A new day
by KellyRSCA
Summary: The young Gine gets her final chance at a normal Saiyan life, but fate has other plans for her...
1. Chapter 1

A new day.

Age 732.

The sun rises in a distant, desolate place, lightyears away from our Earth. Slowly the light crawls over a barren wasteland.  
The planet is planet Vegeta, only recently inhabited by the Saiyans. A great war has left it's tracks on the environment of the once beautiful planet. Only a few cities remain standing. And it's here,  
somewhere a little outside of the outskirts of the capital city that this story begins.

The orange glow of the sun's early light reveals a rather large rock formation, the light creeping in the round dark holes carved out of the rock's side.  
The warm glow wakes it's inhabitants, or at least some of them. Yes, Saiyans here, namely the low-class ones, live in cave-like structures. Far enough away from their higher ranked kin.  
Inside, a young female rose from her bed. She yawned, stretched, got up and walked over to the chair she had left her armor on the night before. Putting it on, she went over what happened a few days earlier again.  
For what seemed like the hundredth time, she got kicked out of a squad. Her superiors had told her she would get one last chance. Even they didn't even know what would happen to her if she blew this one too.  
She would probably have to live out her life somewhere else, away from the cruel ways fellow Saiyans would treat her because of the disgrace she was to them. Come to think of it, it was a miracle she had gotten this many chances.  
Staring into her own eyes in the mirror she tried to talk some courage into herself.  
"Come on Gine, you can do this... For the love of the gods, start living up to what's being expected of you..."  
With shaking hands she adjusted her black hair. It reached all the way to the back of her knees, so keeping it knot-free without being nervous as hell was a hard enough job. After checking if her armored skirt didn't make her butt look fat, Gine put her scouter on and finally walked out of the door. The area outside of the makeshift apartment block was quiet, pointing to the fact that most of the inhabitants were still asleep, had already left,  
or hadn't even been home in days because they were on a mission. Which was most likely the case with Saiyans.  
Pressing the button on her scouter, Gine set the coordinates for her destination and with a short burst of energy took off into the sky. After about thirty minutes of flying, Gine reached the base were most of the low-class squads had to report before they took off on missions. Those missions consisted of conquering other planets, with mostly low leveled fighting power inhabitants. According to their superiors, that was all 'those low-class wretches'  
could handle. The one in charge of these superiors was Frieza, who called himself the Emperor of the galaxy. Rumour had it that even King Vegeta, king of all Saiyans, was no match for Frieza's superior strength.  
And that was saying a lot. King Vegeta was the one who had led all of them into battle against the Tuffles, the former inhabitants of this planet back when it was called planet Plant. Due to his talent as a leader and him being the strongest, the Saiyans picked him to be their king. After ascending the throne and re-naming the planet after himself, the king choose himself a queen (of Elite-class ofcourse) and it was only a few days ago that there had been held a huge feast in the capital city in honour of the newborn prince, who had been conveniently named after his father.

After landing, Gine went inside and reported at the front desk. Behind it sat a green, lizard-like creature who looked at her from top to toe, raising an eyebrow.  
"You're back AGAIN ? Seriously Gine, I thought this time they'd finally sack you for good..."  
Gine was used to these kind of remarks, but it got to her a bit none the less. "Very funny Zasarn, now could you please do your job and assign me to my new squad ?"  
"Short-tempered today, are we ?" said the alien as he reached out his hand. "I'm gonna need to scan your scouter...again..."  
With a sigh, Gine took the pink glassed device of her ear and handed it over. Her hands were still trembling. Noticing the girl's nervousness, a mean smirk appeared around the clerk's mouth.  
"Why so nervous girl, you know you don't stand a chance...I don't even get why you're still trying to..." As he spoke those last words, a number of symbols showed up on the screen of the device he had just plugged the scouter into.  
Gine couldn't see them because the screen was turned away from her sight. His smirk turned into a smile. And it wasn't a nice one.  
"Oh...Ooooh you're gonna love this one..." he said sarcastically. Handing the scouter back over, he even started laughing. "You're toast !"  
Just as sarcastically, Gine mimicked his laughter, taking the scouter from his hand with a rather rough gesture. "Ha ha ha..."  
She put it back on her ear to see what the small pink screen was showing now. As always it just told her where her 'comrades' were stationed, not who they were. All she could tell now was that is was the thrity-first division, and that there would be five of them.  
Walking the corridors of the base, her heart pounded in her chest. She felt it would bang right through her armor by the time she finally reached the door of the place where the squad was held up. Behind it, she heard voices and she couldn't help but overhear what they were discussing.  
"...already late !" stated a higher pitched voice. This was clearly a woman. Another, deeper voice soon replied. " Ah come on Fasha, ya gotta at least give this guy a chance this time..."  
Again, the female apparently named Fasha replied. "What makes you think it's a guy Tora ? Sexist bastard..."  
A third voice was heard this time. By the sound of it, this guy was rather large. "Don't blame Tora for bein' sexist Fasha, it's not his fault we been around YOU so long we can't even tell if you're a guy or a girl anymore!"  
With that the group burst into laughter. Or at least the guys, since the girl clearly didn't see the joke. "Fuck you, Shugesh !"  
Their laughing came to a stop when the door behind them suddenly opened. They all gazed at the petite figure who was standing in it. Gine felt as if she could instantly sink into the floor as all those eyes went over her.  
"Uhm...Hi...I'm Gine, the new girl" she hesitantly walked over to them, tripping over her own feet. All four of them frowned. She surely wasn't making a good first impression. And her posture didn't really help at that too.  
Gine was rather small for a Saiyan, even for a female. That and her excessively long, crazy hair made her look even smaller than she already was. Add rather skinny to that, what made that she wasn't exactly the perfect example of what you would picture yourself when hearing the name 'Saiyan'.  
A short haired woman, wearing pink accesories to go with her armor, stepped up to examine Gine more closely. This was clearly the one named Fasha.  
"Is administration shitting us ? They really sent us this skinny little...thing ? Please tell me I heard you wrong. You're just hear to deliver a message, right ?" Her gaze went straight into Gine's eyes.  
"Uh...N-no...You heard me correct...I..."  
Frowning again, Fasha crossed her arms. "Well whoever assigned you to us sure has a bad sence of humour..."  
"Turn it down a notch, Fasha..." said a voice, coming from behind the four warriors standing before Gine. Thisone was different from the others, she hadn't heard this one before. It sounded more strict, which was maybe why the group immediately split up into two groups, revealing the person behind them. The guy sitting on a chair behind them had spikey hair, pointing in almost every direction and was wearing black armour with brown shoulder pads. He had apparently been staring at his boots before the squad had split. But when he noticed Gine he looked up and walked over to her.  
"So..."He started. He looked her over entirely before stopping at her face. His eyes were a dark, onyx kind, Gine noticed. "You're our new...recrute...My name is Bardock, I'm the captain of this team. I'm sure you've heard of us ?" Bardock crossed his arms as he said that last part, expecting that Gine answered exactly what he wanted to hear.  
"Uh...Y-yes sir, I..." Gine took a slight step back. Somehow she felt uncomfortable standing this close to him. A little late, she noticed she had even started to blush. Her boots looked very interesting all of a sudden.  
"I HAVE heard of you and your crew. I've been told you are known for being able to handle he most difficult tasks in our class..."  
"Exactly, which makes me wonder why they would assign someone like YOU to our team. We've all heard of you too, and we know your...'reputation'."  
With those words Gine's courage had finally hit rock bottom. These guys were not going to make it any easier on her.  
"But I'll be fair to you. We'll give you a chance."  
Hearing that, she almost jumped in in relief...And excitement"Oh ! Thank you sir ! I...!"  
"Hey !" Bardock interrupted her. "Did I say this was a free ticket to a definitive spot on our team or something ?" He came closer again, as if to threaten her. "Let me make this clear. You're gonna have to proove yourself.  
You're gonna have to work just as hard as the rest of us. I wanna keep up the team's good rep and if you jeopardize that even for a tiny bit..." His eyes narrowed. If you make the smallest step out of line,  
you're out. If you endanger one of us even once on a mission, you're done for. You got that ?"  
"Yes sir, I got that..." It took a few seconds before she had recovered from the impact of Bardock's outburst. "I promise I will work very hard and-"  
"I asked if you understood, I didn't ask for you whole backstory. Now step aside..."  
Gine did as she was told, not shocked at all by how he acted towards her. She was used to being treated this way.  
Bardock passed her without even looking. The rest of the team quickly followed in his tracks. He stopped right before leaving the room "From now on, you will adress me with 'captain'. We haven't been assigned a mission so far,  
so you will start training with us tomorrow morning at six. Be there." As soon as he said that, they took off to wherever they were headed, leaving Gine behind.  
Making sure they were out of hearing distance, she sighed deeply. "Great..."  
This was not gonna be easy. Life as an outcast seemed closer than ever now. But, this being her last chance, Gine wasn't planning on going down that easily this time. Flying back home she knew she wasn't going to grant anyone the pleasure of watching her fail again. Ever.


	2. Chapter 2

A new day - chapter 2

Threats and surprises

Countless days had passed since Gine got assigned to her new team and they found themselves at the training grounds, for what seemed like the millionth time that month. Not one mission had been given to them eversince Gine had joined.  
And although no one said it out loud in her presence, she was almost certain it was because of her.  
As usual when the rest was taking a break ath the bar, Gine kept training. Alone.  
In the past weeks she had been able to build up her strength a bit. She was able to keep up with her teammates now, eventhough it took her a lot more effort than them. She had to train day in and out but she wasn't ready to give up.  
Never before had she been so determined to stay on a team and the thought of being an actual part of them kept her going. There was no way in hell that she was ever gonna settle for a life as an outcast. "I'd rather die !" she groaned as she finished her routine of punches and kicks.

Catching her breath, she now grasped her painful stomach. "T-ten minute break..." she gasped. and sat down against a rock.  
In the distance three of her comrades returned to resume their training. "Hey Gine," Tora called as soon as they were in hearing distance. "Come over here...We need to have a little talk..."  
A little hesitant, Gine did as she was told. Her comrades had never been all that friendly to her, so she couldn't help but feel that they were up to something.  
Borgos and Shugesh looked at her as she walked over. "You needed me ?" she asked as she turned to Tora.  
"You could say that..." Tora said as he put an arm around her. "Gine, there's been a little problem lately, and the guys wanna ask for your...cooperation...You must have noticed the lack of missions..."  
"Uhm...Yes, But I don't see how I can help with that ?"  
"Oh much more than you realise," Tora continued "You see...They've come to the conclusion that we haven't been assigned eversince you came in the picture. And you know what we're all like. We're Saiyans, we want action. And it's about time we got some."  
Gine frowned. "And you...want me to leave ? You can't kick me out, you know. The captain 's the one who's got to do that."  
"Oh Bardock doesn't know about it." Tora laughed a bit. "He's got this idea that the team has got some point to prove about being able to take anything they throw at us. And he'll wait, even if it takes months before they give us a new assignment. You know how stubborn he is." Tora stopped for a second to let the message sink in. "My point is Gine, that we want you to quit. Resign from the job. It would make everything a lot easier for us. Otherwise we'll be forced to take matters into our own hands...And you dont want that to happen."  
As he said that last part, he looked over his shoulder to Shugesh and Borgos, who both cracked their knuckles.  
"You...You can't make me !" To avoid any further conflict, Gine turned around and walked away towards the showers. She was sure she could hear the guys calling stuff to her but her thoughts were louder. Still, the scolding quickened her pace and before she knew it she was running off. What was she gonna do now ? She didn't want to quit ofcourse, but on the other side she didn't want to risk a fight. The little Saiyan was so sunk in her own thoughts she had undressed and gotten into the shower without even realising it. She didn't even hear when someone came in the room.  
"You okay in there little fish ?"  
With a quick reflex Gine turned around and covered herself when Fasha walked into the shower. "Geez, nervous one aren't ya ?"  
"Oh," Gine sighed. "It's you..."  
"Come on...cheer up kid, you're not gonna let those idiots get to ya that fast, are ya ?"  
A little confused, Gine looked at her. "How did you -"  
"I guess you could say I overheard your little conversation by scouter...I overheard them talking about you in the bar and I listened through my scouter once they left to get you."  
"So why are you telling me this ? You know they're right..." Gine closed her eyes and faced upwards, letting the warm water flow over her face. Secretly, she also did it so Fasha wouldn't notice she was close to tears.  
"Are you kidding me ? They're wrong ! Sure, you're not the toughest cookie in the jar but look how far you've come in the past few weeks ! Why would you let your progress go to waste ? They've tried to do that to me to. Back when I got assigned, there weren't any missions for us either. The reason ? The gods know why, but back than they blamed it on the fact that I was a woman. That alone made them think I was weaker."  
This confession surprised Gine. First of all, she wasn't used to Fasha talking to her as a friend, and second was the fact that she couldn't believe Fasha would entrust her with this information. It was quite shocking to learn that the otherwise tough as nails persona had a hard time fitting in as well.  
"So what did you do ?" Gine asked.  
"What I did is the same thing as you're gonna do. Just ignore them and don't give up. Eventually a new mission will come up and that will be your real chance to proove them wrong. I don't know what you're capable of fish, but as far as I can tell my first opinion on you was wrong too. I've come to realise that appearance isnt everything. You're fast as hell, and very agile."  
This surprised Gine even more. "R-really ? You mean you think I'm good ?" she said as she walked out the shower to go dry herself. She hid her smiling face in her towel. Fasha soon followed. "I wouldn't say that, but you're not entirely worthless, not just yet. I've noticed your hair gets in your way sometimes..."  
"Yeah it does, but I like it so much I just can't get myself to cut it...I'm afraid I'l regret it..."  
In a split second, Fasha got behind her and held Gine's hair in a long, thick ponytail. "You want me to cut it for ya ? You seriously need to control that mane girl, it's crazy. I did the same to mine years ago." She gave Gine a little nudge towards the sink. "Look in the mirror. You should show your face a little more. You're not that bad looking."  
Fasha was right. Cutting her hair short would bring out her face more... "I...I guess we could...try..."  
That was all the confirmation Fasha needed. Immediately she formed a small, blade-like energy around her right hand. "Now stand still so I can do it real quick. I can't keep my energy formed like that for too long."  
"I'm impressed you can even do that," Gine said as she stood perfectly still. "I've heard it's a really difficult technique"  
Fasha acknowledged that with a short "uh-huh" and started cutting away large strands of hair. In a matter of minutes it went from wild and out of control to less than shoulder length.

"There you go"  
Gine looked at her reflection with surprise. She would have thought it was someone else staring back at her, if she hadn't been so sure it was a mirror she was looking into.  
"Wow...You were right Fasha...Gosh I don't know what to say...Thank you !"  
Fasha put a supporting hand on her shoulder. "No need to thank me fish, just proove those idiots wrong on the very next mission we get. Now let's go check out their reaction." And with that said, Fasha gently pushed Gine towards the door. Three heads immediately turned when the two women emerged.  
Shugesh immediately expressed his surprise. "Now who's THIS new chick, Fasha ? What did you do with Gine ?"  
"Wait..." Tora said as he walked over to take a closer look. "It IS Gine. Well I must say, you do look different." He spoke with an admiring tone, looking her over from head to toe.  
Fasha noticed the interest in Tora's eyes. "What's your deal Tora ? Cutting her hair makes her more interesting all of a sudden ? You threatened the poor thing an hour ago."  
"Jealous, are we ?" Tora responded with a amused smirk on his lips. Seeing Fasha roll her eyes, Tora went even further. "Don't deny it, you liked it yester- "  
Before Tora could finish that sentence, Fasha had jumped at him. Gine and the others watched in shock as they fought.

"HEY ! BREAK IT UP YOU TWO !"

Everyone, including the two fighters, looked to where the voice had suddenly come from. In all the commotion, Bardock had arrived unnoticed. As he walked over to the group, Tora whiped the dust of his armour and threw Fasha a taunting smile. She in her turn mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'Fucking idiot'.  
"Good news..." Bardock went on. "We got ourselves a new assignement..."

With that, Gine's heart immediately dropped to the bottom of her stomach. This was it.


	3. Chapter 3

A new day - Chapter 3

No way back

The next day early in the morning Gine woke up to the alarm of her scouter, a strange feeling stirring in her stomach. As she sat up on the bed and put the device over her ear, she immediately remembered why she felt so nervous.  
Her first mission on her new crew. The screen on her scouter showed that the launch was scheduled in exactly three hours. Just enough for her to eat,get ready and fly to the base from where they would all take off.  
Everything was still covered in night's darkness when the nervous warrior finally walked outside. Nothing but the sound of a small energyburst was heard when she lifted off of the ground and flew to her destination.  
As predicted, Gine arrived at the base shortly before take off. Only one person was already standing outside by the spacepods. Even from a short distance, his spikey hair stood out, so there was no mistaking who it was. As soon as Gine noticed, her cheeks already flushed pink.

"So you decided to show up..." Bardock started, without even taking the effort to face her.  
Gine was surprised. Didn't he notice how she had prepared for this ? "Yes, ofcourse...Why wouldn't I, Captain. I've trained very hard for this day."  
"The others are already waiting in their some reason they were convinced you wouldn't show today. But I noticed how hard you worked. Still, I'm not convinced you're fully ready." The stern captain said as he finally turned towards her. Gine started blushing even harder at that remark. Not because she was shy or anything. She was annoyed. How did he even dare to taunt her like that ? After all the hours and effort she had put into her training ? "And why is that ?"  
"First of all, you seem insecure. And second..." He looked her up and down as he seemed to search for something more to say. "You're slouching."  
"I'm not insecure, I'm just a little nerv- Hey I'm not slouching !" Gine defended herself, but straightened her shoulders none the less.  
Instead of embarassing her even further, Bardock turned around again and with the words "It's time to go" he got in his pod. As soon as the pod-door had shut, he started pressing buttons and the pod went backwards down a long tunnel for the launch.  
Gine followed his example. Her pod also closed as soon as she sat down and she felt it move backwards. A cold computer voice started reciting :  
"Initiating launching sequence. Lift-off in ten, nine, eight,..."  
"No going back now..." Gine thought to herself as she closed her eyes. Launching was always a bit scary.  
"three, two, one." The moment the computer reached that last number, six Saiyan space pods shot out into deep space, spinning around because of the impact of the launch for the first few seconds.  
A few minutes later another voiced sounded. This time it was Bardock, through the intercom.  
"We're headed towards a planet called Layrilia. The Layrilians are supposed to be a peaceful race, They shouldn't pose that big of a threat to us. They do on the other hand have warrior clans, who tend to be quite strong so we should be on our toes. Also, there's no moon on planet Layrilia so if we need to transform, we're gonna have to use a projection."  
A few seconds of silence followed as all team members let that info sink in.  
"That was all, I'll see you guys when we get there."  
When Bardock finished his briefing, Gine pressed a large round, pink button and the air inside the pod quickly changed. It had been filled with a kind of sleeping gas, which brought its passenger in a cryogenic sleep.  
As she dosed off, Gine felt her nerves ease and her mind went blank.  
It seemed only minutes later that that same cold computer started talking again. "Wake up Gine, start mission...Wake up Gine, start mission..."  
It kept repeating itself until Gine finally woke up and got out of her pod. With one click on the button of the remote control, it closed. As soon as Gine was sure the area was clear, she took off into the sky. She was immediately aware of the low gravity this planet had, feeling almost as light as a feather when she moved around. "Good," she thought, "that will surely come in handy."  
Her teammates hadn't stayed around to wait for her to wake up but it didn't take her long before she found them. The sound of explosions and screams made it clear where they had started their assault. The nearest city was already turned halfway into ruins when Gine arrived. Down below on the streets, people were running and screaming in terror.  
"Saiyans !"  
"The Saiyans are attacking !"  
"Help, somebody help !"  
"Run ! Flee !"  
With slight hesitation Gine decided to land, this was no time to turn back.  
"It's another one !"  
"This one 's smaller, get her !"  
Before Gine could even react, ten to fifteen civilians were all over her. Try as she might, she couldn't move a muscle.  
The struggle went on for minutes, until suddenly all the hands who held her tightly let go. They were blown away one by one, by blue energy blasts. It was Bardock who had come to Gine's rescue.  
"Try to keep up, rookie !"  
"I am !" The moment she got free, Gine had started fighting back, punching and kicking at whoever was still surrounding her. To be honest, she wasn't doing half bad. No way that these guys were gonna ruin this chance for her. Screaming and growling she fought like a lion against the last three men thatwere surrounding her. The adrenaline that had started rushing through her blood the moment she felt she had the upper hand, was changing the way she usually behaved. This feeling was new to her. That glorious feeling of fighting...Winning... The true Saiyan inside her was speaking.  
One by one she defeated her opponents, until only one remained, and this one was going to meet his demise now too. She had gotten him to his knees and lunged at him, grabbing his throat and pushing him down to the ground on his back.  
One fist still in the air, ready to punch, she looked her victim in the eye and saw something...Something most Saiyans are insensitive to. Dispair.  
Her rage seeped away and her strength slowly left her fingers. Letting go of the man, the now confused Saiyan warrior slowly took a step back and looked around. Around them were people running, the same dispair in their eyes as the man in front of her. Wounded men, trying to hide from certain death. Women screaming, children crying out for their parents... Was this really what she wanted to do with her life ?  
"Why..." she mumbled.  
Gine didn't get the time to overthink her sudden realisation. "AAAH !"  
A sharp pain in her thy made her fall to her knee. The man she had just let go had taken advantage of her not paying attention and stabbed her leg with a pocketknife. He was getting closer to strike again as Gine looked at him in disbelief. She had spared him...  
Another sudden energy blast blew the man away rigt when he was about to strike again. "DO I REALLY HAVE TO KEEP SAVING YOUR STUPID ASS ? GET UP!" It was Bardock again.  
Gine tried, but as soon as she put weight on her leg, the pain got worse, almost making her fall again. With a limp she went over to her captain.  
"We have to stop, Bardock, this is wrong...Look at what we're doing. We're killing innocent people..."  
"You'll die too if you don't keep fighting !" Saying that, he turned away from her and started fighting again.  
"Isn't that what you want ? You said I'd be on my own if I didn't keep up!"  
That caught him of guard, or so it seemed. He got hit in the cheek by one of the soldiers he was fighting. Luckily, he quickly recovered. "We need every member of the team !"  
Clenching her fists, Gine tried to stand firmly now. "I won't fight anymore ! This is wrong and you know it !"  
"Then you leave me no choice !" With those words, Bardock took his remote from his pocket and pressed a few buttons. When he finished, a flash of light lit up the sky and a large white orb formed. "It'll be over soon now..."  
Not having the time to realise what Bardock had done, Gine automatically looked up at the projection of the full moon.  
Her heart started pounding harder and faster, her breathing got heavier. She felt her skin stretch while large canines formed in her mouth. She knew what was happening and there was no stopping it.  
With one eardrum-ripping collective roar, six mighty Oozaru continued their assault on the now defenseless people of planet Layrilia.


	4. Chapter 4

A new day - Chapter 4

An unexpected move

After a ravaging battle, the dust was now slowly settling on the small planet Layrilia. Among the rubble, the young Gine was sound asleep. The moon projection had lasted for days but as soon as it had disappeared,  
it's effects had worn off and all six Saiyans had shrunk back to their normal form. They had gone rampant across the entire planet, destroying all its lifeforms. Ofcourse that had taken up a lot of energy, which meant that they all passed out soon after.

Slowly but surely Gine regained consciousness. She opened her eyes carefully, and as she adjusted to the sunglight, she could see the damage they had done.  
All around her bodies were scattered across the ground. Buildings were reduced to nothing more than piles of stone. Except for a few smaller houses and one big tower right in front of her that had caught her attention. Did she really just see a small flickering of light inside ? Gine got up to investigate, hoovering a little above the ground to spare her injured leg. As she got closer, it became clear that the tower was just barely still standing. Large chunks of the outside walls had seemingly been ripped out. Again, something blinked near the entrance. This time Gine was sure she had seen it. It was dim, but it was there. Something was there. For a second she halted and started doubting. What if it was something dangerous...? But that was almost impossible, since the chance something or someone could have survived their siege was small.  
"It might be one of the others..." she tried reassuring herself and went on.  
Getting closer, Gine could see that it wasn't 'something' that was causing the flickering. It was someone. "Someone actually survived our attack...?" she thought to herself.  
The figure must have seen Gine closing in, because the flickering had suddenly stopped. A shadow quickly retreated back inside the tower, to the safety of darkness.  
"Hey..." Gine whispered, "Don't go away...I won't hurt you..."  
The figure returned. Gine moved into the tower now too and she could barely make out the posture of a child. It had to be, since it seemed rather small.  
"Don't be scared, please...Let me help you..."  
"G-go away, Saiyan !" a high pitched voice squeaked. "You hurt my family, you big ugly monkey !"  
"I'm not like the other Saiyans. I promise...Where is your family ?"  
"I...I don't know..." the child murmered. "I haven't seen them since this morning, when you Saiyans attacked them..." he went on, still trembling in fear. "But you...You do sound different..."  
"I am..." she tried reassuring him. "My name is Gine. What's yours ?"  
"I am Tartar..."  
"Hello Tartar, now..." Gine held out her hand. "Would you step into the light so I can see you ?"  
This time the little alien didn't hesitate that long. He took a step into the sunlight, finally showing himself to Gine. He was small ofcourse, with pink scaled skin and light green hair. You could say he looked like some kind of large pink, scaled frog. He wore a necklace with a green gem, which must have caused the reflection of the light.  
"Good !" Gine smiled. "Now that I've seen you, I'll help you look for your family if you want." She had figured that a child like him shouldn't be all by himself in such a dangerous place. Even if they didn't find any survivors, she'd figure out a way to help him.  
"Why, that would be very nice of you... You are not like the others Saiyans at all, lady !"  
" I know," Gine sighed. She remembered how this was probably gonna cost her when the others would find out. "Now where did you last see your family ?"  
"Near this building actually. We used to live at the top of the tower !" Tartar squeaked, pointing at the sky.  
"Well...I guess it couldn't hurt if we went to have a look, I can fly you up there." The Saiyan held out her arms. Tartar didn't hesitate and jumped into them.  
But before she could even take off, someone jumped at her. "Let go of that child ! "  
Before she knew it, someone hit Gine hard in her side and she was knocked to the ground. Tartar fell too and rolled over the ground. He ended up against a rock, unconscious. The Saiyan in her turn was used to such hard impacts and almost instantly got up again, but her wounded leg bothered her. The pain made her sink to her knees and the hand she used to grab her wound was covered in blood.  
Groaning in pain, she looked up at her attacker. Standing before her was what could have been an adult version of Tartar, only this one was darker in color and had no hair at all. He was also pretty muscular which made him look threatening. Wanting to send out a distress call, Gine reached for her ear. But her attacker seemed to have read her mind because he came closer, holding a device in his hand that ressembled Gine's scouter closely.  
"Looking for this ?" he asked with an evil grin on his face. "I'm afraid you lost it in battle, right before you transformed. I picked it up just a few hours ago, and look ! It got me back to you ! I am Mayo and I'll make you regret that you ever came to this planet in the first place !"  
As he started studying the object, it started bleeping. Gine knew what that meant. Someone was coming.  
"You're in trouble now..." She tried scaring him, but clearly in vain. Mayo lowered himself to the ground and crawled over, coming uncomfortably close. In fact he was so close, their noses almost touched.  
"Well then...Why not make the most of our time together..." he almost growled as he suddenly pulled her hair and sniffed it. Gine groaned in pain. "Mmmm...You are quite the beauty for a Saiyan...I wonder if our species can crossbreed..." Realising what he wanted to do, even if it was a little late, Gine started kicking at him right when he grabbed her ankles. Not to her surprise, he was even stronger then the others of his species she had fought, and easily overpowered her. In blind panic, she struggled and wriggled like an eel to get free. But to no avail. It didn't even seem to bother him. She banged her fists against his shoulder but even then he just went on pulling the edge of her armour.  
The frightened Saiyan never stopped fighting, but closed her eyes in fear none the less. Not wanting to see what he was about to do and in a way, accepting her 'fate'. She could feel his breath on her skin, when suddenly she heard a faint thud in the distance. An all too familiar voice sounded. "Let go of her !" Surprised as she was, Gine opened her eyes and saw her violator standing up again, facing the other way. Standing in front of him was Bardock.  
"And who's this ? Your spouse ?" the hideous creature hissed. "Don't worry pal, you can have her back once I'm done with her..." He attempted to turn back to Gine but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.  
"You should have died like the rest of your kind, when you had the chance. Now it's gonna hurt !" With those words Bardock took hold of the alien's arm and just flung him against the rocks as if it was nothing. "No one messes with my crewmembers and gets away with it !" Not wasting a second,the captain followed his victim and started punching and kicking, visually doing great deals of damage everytime he managed to land a blow. " Mayo tried defending himself but was clearly the weaker one in this fight. It wasn't hard to see why Bardock had the upper hand here. Even Gine, who was quick on her feet, had a hard time following Bardock's movements. It seemed he was going all out, moving as fast as he could to not give his opponent a chance to strike back. One minute he was punching, kicking, elbowing, and the next he was tossing Mayo around like a ragdoll. Moments later he took the heavily wounded creature into the sky, his hands each on the other side of Mayo's head. "Time to say goodbye !" Bardock yelled, but as he wanted to snap Mayo's neck, the latter one's body started to light up as he screamed and squealed : "You won't win !"  
The second Gine knew what was going to happen, time seemed to slow down. Bardock's eyes widened as he realised it too and he barely had the time to let go of Mayo, dive towards Gine and yell "GINE ! HIDE !" .He grabbed her right at the moment Mayo self-destructed. The impact blew them both against the rocks and everything around them seemed to light up. Moments later Gine felt a sharp pain at the top of her head. The last thing she heard was Bardock attempting to keep her conscious before the world around her fell away and evertyhing went dark.


	5. Chapter 5

A new day - chapter 5

Saiyan instinct

Muffled voices and a strange hissing sound woke Gine up days after the siege of planet Layrilia. A soothing, blissful feeling overwhelmed her as she slowly regained consciousness. She couldn't open her eyes yet, but it soon dawned on her that she was in a healing tank, she had to be considering the damage she had pain in her head was gone. And so was the stinging in her leg. In the distance she could still hear voices talking. If she concentrated enough she could make out parts of what they were saying.

"...how...she doing ?"  
"Will...okay ?"  
"...huge blow..."  
"Lucky to be alive..."

Most of the voices sounded familiar, except for the last two. She hadn't heard those before. And it seemed that the people who the voices belonged to had come closer, since she could hear them a lot better when they spoke again.  
"Your crewmembers were here today Gine. You'll be able to join them again if you heal soon..." said the first voice.  
As much as she wanted to show a sign of life, she simply could not move.

"Her stats seem to show some improvement. She's in there somewhere..." The second voice stated.

Judging by how weak she still felt, Gine knew it would take her a lot more time to heal. But from that moment on, she was fully conscious. At least for the times when she didn't doze off.  
Doctors and specialists came and went to check on her every now and then. After some time, when she was able to open her eyes again for the tiniest bit, she could see them standing there in front of the tank. Staring at her and writing stuff down on their clipboards.  
Someone else visited her too. And even though he did not speak to her, she knew exactly who he was by his silhouet and spikey hairstyle.

Not much later it seemed, an alarm went off and the waterlevel in the tank started to drop. "I must be fully healed." Gine thought. Removing the wires that were attached to her temples confirmed her thought. She felt as new.  
The glass dome of the tank opened and Gine could finally see the doctors that had taken care of her clearly. The smallest one, a green bird-like alien, smiled at her.  
"Hello sunshine ! You're looking much better. Come out of the tank so I can give you your final check-up."  
Gine did as she was told and got over to the chair nearest to where the doctor was standing. "What happened ?" She asked as she changed into a new armour.  
While checking her muscle reflexes, the doctor replied in a curious tone. "You mean you don't remember ? Nothing at all ?"  
"I do..."Gine sighed, recalling images of their last fight on planet Layrilia. "But when I try to remember, it just all slips away. It's like trying to hold water in your hands. It seeps away through your fingers. It feels as if it all happened a long time ago."  
"Well you were in the healing tank for two days, which is rather exceptional. But I wasn't surprised considering the state you were in when Bardock carried you in here...We thought you were dead."  
The Saiyan looked up. "Bardock carried me in ?"  
"Why so surprised ? He came to check on you every day. We thought you'd know...That maybe you were close or something. Like mates..." The doctor shrugged. "Seeing the way he was worried about you..."  
"Uhm...No. We're not mates..." Gine said shaking her head. She faced the floor as she felt her cheeks glowing. That thought sure did something to her.  
"Anyway," the doctor went on, "he said he wanted us to let you know he wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. And by the way, I'm done with you here." He said as he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You're in perfect health again."  
Gine stood up from her chair. She wondered why the captain wanted to talk to her so bad. And why was he so concerned with her ? He never showed any real interest in her before. That, and he made it clear she could be easily replaced if she screwed up for the team. She realised she wouldn't find out if she didn't go see him. Shaking her head, she tried getting her act together again. Her hair still wet from the tank's fluid, she spattered little drops everywhere.  
"I guess I should go then. But can I get a new scouter ? I don't know where Bardock lives and uhm...Well I'm afraid I lost mine back on Layrilia."  
The doctor had already turned to a desk when he answered. "You can pass by registration to get a new one."  
"Okay, thanks." Gine nodded and left to get her new device.  
Once she had gotten a new one at the registration desk, a pink one ofcourse, she went outside and set the coordinates for Bardock's place. After the scouter had finished calculating, she took off into the sky. The captain's house wasn't that far from the base she had just left. About twenty minutes of flight. As soon as she had reached the place the scouter targetted his power level, indicating he was home.  
Bardock's place was a standalone house, in the middle of what you could describe as a small village. Gine wasn't surprised he lived in a nicer place. SHe always thought that to be normal since he was captain and 'higher in rank'.  
Stopping at his door, she knocked and waited politely for a permission to come in. When that didn't come after about a minute, she knocked again. Still she got no answer so she decided to walk in.  
"Hello...?" she cautiously called out. Again, nothing. But if she listened closely, she could hear a faint snoring. It seemed to come from what Gine figured was the living room. She walked in and immediatley noticed the leftovers of food all over the table and parts of the floor around it. Bardock himself was sound asleep on his bed, if that was what you could call a mattress on the floor.  
Gine walked over and kneeled next to him. "Bardock ?" She put her slightly trembling hand on his shoulder and wiggled a bit.  
"Hmm..." He groaned and slowly opened his eyes to see who woke him. "You're awake" He said as he sat up. Gine immediately saw that the battle had left its tracks on him too. A large bloodstained compress was patched to his cheek.  
"Did...Did that happen on Layrilia ?" she asked, pointing at his wound.  
"Yeah," he nodded, looking pretty grumpy. "And I have you to thank for that. Now everytime I look in the mirror I'll think of you, and how you almost screwed up for all of us..."  
"I-I-I'm sorry," the female Saiyan stuttered. "I didn't -"  
"Ofcourse you didn't mean to put any of us in danger" Bardock sneered, interrupting her. " But you did, Gine. Did it ever occur to you that your soft hearted behaviour could have killed us back there ?"  
Gine's lower lip started to tremble as he went on with his scolding, his tone of voice getting louder and louder. "Did you even for a second think about ANYONE but yourself back there, besides those miserable creatures ? Look where your kindness got you !"  
"I didn't-"  
He started yelling now. "Yes you did ! You thought only about yourself, how YOU didn't want to fight ! Let me tell you something ! Out there, it's kill or be killed ! You kill not only for yourself, but to help your teammates !"  
By now Gine had started to cry. "I'm...I'm sorry...I know I'm a disappointment...I tried, but I can't change who I am..." she sobbed, burying her face in her hands.  
"Yeah, you're right. You're the weakest, saddest excuse for a Saiyan that I've ever met." Even though Gine had just practically admitted to that herself, she looked up in disbelief. "And if I was any other captain, I'd kick your miserable ass off my crew !"  
Gine's disbelief continued to grow. Did that mean he wasn't going to sack her ? And where did this sudden forgiveness come from ? This wasn't like him at all.  
"I saw you fight against those soldiers...You do have potential. I just don't understand why you don't want to use it. In that very moment I saw a true Saiyan in your eyes. I'm gonna train you on using that instinct. That's the last chance I'm giving you."  
"Thanks, but I...I..." Doubts started stirring in Gine's mind again. Did she really want to live like this, knowing she was guilty of slaughtering hundreds of innocent people ? Or would life in exile be that much better ? She figured there wasn't much of a choice. "Fine..." she huffed.  
"Good," Bardock nodded. "Let's get started right away. We might get a new assignment soon and I don't want to waste any time. Let's go outside." He said, walking out the door.  
Gine followed him to a large open space behind the row of houses. Judging by the craters in the ground, the Saiyans who lived here often used this place as their training ground. But now the two were all alone.  
"Stay right here." Bardock said before he flew a considerable distance away from his female pupil. "Okay !" He called out. "Now, fight me like you did against the soldiers on Layrilia !"  
Gine swallowed, just standing there. She wasn't used to this kind of training. She had always worked out all by herself. She knew she could never injure Bardock but still, going head to head with him made her nervous.  
Bardock in his turn grew a little impatient. "What are you waiting for ? Attack !"  
His sudden outburst triggered Gine and before she knew it she flung herself towards her captain. Once she reached him, she threw punch after punch, kick after kick. She went as fast as she could and soon started panting,  
but all her effort went in vain. He dodged all of her attacks, without even breaking a sweat. What was worse was the bored expression on his face. "You're not gonna tell me that's your best, Gine..."  
Was he serious ? With that remark her frustration grew even more and she started to fight more reckless. Leaving herself wide open now, Bardock saw that as the perfect opportunity to strike her down. His right knee hit her hard in her stomach and as she bent over in pain he used his left fist to hit her back, torpedoing her to the ground. Only half a second before hitting the hard rocks, something snapped and Gine let out a roar of pure anger. She wasn't going to let him make a fool out of her. She charged back at him in the sky and the moment he expected her to land a fist, she dove behind him to hit him with an energy attack. Holding her right fist with her left hand, she fired at him.  
This knocked Bardock off-guard but he was quick enough to dodge her attack yet again. After avoiding her bursts of energy, he grabbed her arm, pulling her closer. In a split second he folded his hands together and hit her left shoulder,  
sending her down to the ground again. This time, Gine wasn't so quick to get back up. The pain from the impact numbed her for too long. As she sat up groaning, Bardock landed next to her.  
"That's enough for today." He said, looking down at her. "I expect you back tomorrow around the same time." As he walked off, Gine heard the faint rumble of his stomach. So that's why he wanted to quit so soon. Without thinking, she called out to his back :  
"I can make you dinner if you want !"  
For a second she thought he would just ignore her and keep walking, but her words had not missed their effect. Bardock had stopped in his tracks and without looking back at her, but with a smirk around his lips, he answered :  
"Be my guest..."

And so it happened that not much later, Gine was going through the pantry in search of good ingredients. There wasn't much choice since it was half empty and almost everything in there was meat, a Saiyan's favorite food. But with the right spices that was all she needed. While she was busy in the kitchen, Bardock rested for a while and took a shower. By the time he turned the hot water off, delicious smells had filled the house. They made his stomach growl even louder. The table was all set when he walked in, wearing only his dark blue pants, his tail not wrapped around his waiste for once. In stead, it flicked from left to right, giving away that he was excited for some good food.  
"I hope you'll like it..." Gine said as he sat down. Bardock didn't answer. In stead he let his reaction speak for itself and started pigging out on all the food. Gine realised that if he went on like that there would be nothing left for her soon so she followed his example. After finishing their meal, the two just sat there, not saying a word to each other. Gine felt a little uncomfortable, not really knowing what to say or do now. She looked up at her companion and noticed he was staring back. And not just a blank stare, it was like he was trying to read her or something. It made her blush. "Is...Is something wrong ? I don't still have sauce on my mouth do I ?" She started rubbing the corners of her mouth frantically as she brought up that horrific thought.  
"...No..." he said, looking almost hypnotised.  
It only made Gine more nervous and being totally clueless of why he was acting this way, she got up, toppling over her chair in the process. "I should get going..."  
Anticipating her move, Bardock got up too and stopped her before she could reach the doorpost. They were so close now, there was less than an inch between them. Gine was frozen with nerves when he his index finger under her chin to make her look back up at him. Not knowing what else to do, she looked him in the eyes. Deep, dark, onyx eyes... He looked so different now, with his eyes half closed, his lips so close to hers. He moved to her neck, studying her mesmerizing smell and as his pheromones did their work on her, their tails entwined. He snapped his teeth seductively and picked her up. Finally relaxing, she snapped back and wrapped her legs around his waiste, allowing him to carry her back to his sleeping spot.


	6. Chapter 6

A new day - Chapter 6

The aftermath

Gine had the feeling she could have slept forever, if her growling stomach hadn't protested. Slowly coming to her senses, she hoped to the gods the past night had been real. she didn't dare open her eyes, afraid she would open them only to see her own bedroom and having to realise she had dreamed last night's events. Luckily, her nose told her otherwise. She could still smell him. His scent was all over her. Bringing her wrist to her nose, she relished it and every memory it brought back. Never could she have imagined that his skin would feel so soft against hers. His hands sliding all over her body, leaving a tingling sensation everywhere they went...The look in his eyes, how he groaned her name under his breath... The tickling, dazzling feeling in her stomach growing stronger and stonger in rythm with the bucking of his hips. It almost all came back just thinking about it.  
She now realised what that feeling had been whenever she had looked at him. She was in love. This Saiyan was actually in love. Infatuated with her team captain. That would probably get her in trouble again. But now was not the time to worry about that, there were more urgent matters to take care of first. Like putting food in her empty stomach for example, and taking a shower.

When she finally opened her eyes, Gine immediatley noticed that apart from her, the condo was deserted. And it was an even bigger mess now with her clothes and armour scattered across the floor. With a sigh she got up on her knees,  
but as soon as she did that she felt like she just got beaten up badly or something. All the muscles in her body felt sore, and getting up so fast had made her dizzy. Even to the point where her stomach seemed to cringe, making her a bit nautious.  
She attributed all those ailments to the fact that Saiyan mating was indeed on the rough side. She got up, slower this time ofcourse, and started picking up her garments from the floor.

"Kinda strange, walking around butt naked in someone else's house..." She thought to herself. "Nobody else can see me...Right...?"  
That thought made her scurry over to the bathroom as fast as she could. Once there, she dropped her clothes on the nearest cabinet and looked herself over in the mirror. Only now she noticed why she felt so sore. She was covered in bruises, most of them situated around her abdomen and legs. And two big ones on each of her hips were clearly the shape of hands.

"Well..." She said as she turned around to look at her backside. "I guess that's what they call a tough lover..." Not that she minded. Without any further ado, she got into the shower.  
After that, she finally got around to making herself a hearty breakfast. She figured Bardock wouldn't mind her taking some of his food. He had let her do what she wanted yesterday in his kitchen. Besides, if he did mind, he should have told her before leaving her there alone.

"...Probably prefers training over waking me up...Typical..." She huffed. But the butterflies in her stomach told her she didn't really mind the fact that he was like that. So there she sat, smiling like an idiot at her breakfast.

After stuffing herself with as much meat as she probably could digest, it was time to leave for training. Putting her scouter on, she went outside. It wasn't even noon and the sun, growing in strength, promised a sweltering day.  
When the scouter started up, it immediately pointed out the location of Gine's teammates.  
Three powerlevels were gathered at what had to be the training grounds, and another, higher one was situated somewhere else a few miles away. That had to be Bardock.

"Strange..." Gine thought as she blasted off into the sky. What could he be doing by himself while the others clearly had gathered to train together.  
"Hey guys !" She called out as she landed. Her teammates had already engaged in training. It wasn't like them to wait around until everyone had arrived. Especially not if it was her they had to wait for.

"Look who decided to show up..."Tora started. "How's the head...All healed ?" He said as he tapped the back of her head.

"Well, yeah Tora..." Gine said as he turned at him, a confident smirk around her lips. "They were able to fix my head. Unlike your attitude towards me." She winked at Fasha, who winked back, seemingly proud.

"Give me one good reason why I would change that, you're the reason we almost failed at Layrilia, or worse !" He snarled.

"Listen, you stupid ape ! Gine growled in her turn. She was getting pretty tired of being treated like garbage by him. "I did my part back there, why can't you just accept that ? Even Bardock-"

"What about Bardock ?" A third voice interrupted Gine's outburst. Bardock had arrived and was now hoovering over them. He looked down on the bickering duo with his arms crossed, his angry demeanor accompanying him as always.

"B-Bardock !" Gine's heart skipped a beat. Now that she finally saw him again, she didn't know how to behave. The butterflies in her stomach were on the loose again and she couldn't think straight. And ofcourse it wasn't long before she started blushing again, her face turning almost as red as the planet's sky.

The others didn't seem so surprised at the fact that their captain showed up this late. In fact, it seemed they were used to it. Tora walked up to him and greeted his friend with a fistbump and an arm around his shoulders.

"Late as always...So who was it this time huh ? Who got the old 'Bardock baggin' boot' this morning ?" He laughed.

Hearing those words, Gine felt as if a huge chunk of ice had just fell to the bottom of her stomach. What was that all about ?  
But it seemed Tora's words didn't have the effect they usually had. Bardock quickly tried to brush him off.

"Not now, Tora. We've got things to do."

"Oh come on ! You can't fool me, Look ! She even left her mark on you !" Tora went on with pointing out the scrath- and bitemarks on his shoulders.

Gine couldn't help but smile triumphantly. So she in her turn was able to deal some 'love marks' to him too. Still she couldn't shake that uncomfortable feeling in her stomach that Tora's words had just caused.

Bardock in his turn didn't seem to care as much. He went on, ignoring Tora completely. Still, he looked rather annoyed.  
"Listen, we're being summoned. I just got back from the base and I was told we're expected to assemble as soon as possible on Planet Frieza seventy-nine.

"Planet Frieza..." Fasha mumbled. "But why ? Is this some kind of promotion or something ?"

"It might be..." Bardock grinned. "But all I know now is that there's a bigger plan. We'll hear more about it when we get there. Now go get ready, we'll meet at the launching platform"

Everyone nodded and without question, they left to prepare themselves for whatever waited for them. Bardock watched them as they flew off simultaneously. It wasn't until after a second or two that he noticed Gine was still standing there, next to him.

"What ?" He asked as he saw her staring.

"Uhm...Can we talk ?" She started.

"There's nothing to talk about." He replied bluntly and turned his back towards her.

"What do you mean ? What about last night ?" The female Saiyan brought out. She was starting to sound desperate. "We...We..."

"We mated, Gine. Yes. We were in heat, and I lost control. That's it." Bardock sounded cold, but swallowed audibly at the end of his sentence.

Gine in her turn broke down into tears, and with that her heart broke too, into a thousand pieces. What was going on ? This wasn't the Bardock she had been with last night.

"But Bardock, I-"

"You don't understand !" He interrupted her, turning around and looking down on her angrily. "When I'm around you...When I'm ALONE with you...I'm different..." He closed his eyes, and for a second it seemed like he was going to change his mind. "You weaken me Gine, and I can't afford myself that !"

With that, he decided enough was enough and flew off himself, leaving only a small dustcloud from the blast.

Gine had dropped down to her knees and wrapped her arms around her chest, as if to comfort herself. As she watched him leave, she whispered :

"love isn't a weakness, Bardock..."


	7. Chapter 7

A new Day - Chapter 7

Greater consequences

The Royal palace, a few weeks after the previous chapter's events.

"Is everything going as planned ?" King Vegeta asked.  
The planet's sovereign sat on his marble throne, looking over a handful of his subjects. They had assembled to discuss the development on conquering several important planets.

"Yes, my lord. The thirty-first went through their monthly health check and left immediately after, together with the twenty-first division."  
The man who had just answered got up from one knee, but still bowed his almost bald head in respect to his leader.

"Good..." The king nodded. "Now all we can do is wait for their return. The planet we sent them to IS densely populated and large..."

"Begging your pardon Sir, but I still don't see how joining a low-class team with a higher ranked one will be of any benefit. Don't you think they'll only slow them down ? And their captain is quite the troublemaker..."

"I have faith in both these teams, General Nappa. You would better believe in the troops a little more too. And I know Bardock, I've fought next to him in the war over this planet. He might not be very strong compared to us, but when he puts his mind to something...It's almost amazing what he can do. Besides if we want to be of even better service to Frieza, our army needs to keep improving. If we push them to their limit..."

Nappa looked as if a light had suddenly switched on in his mind. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a guard entering the throne room.

"Your Highness, Lord Frieza has arrived and demands to speak with you, shall I let him in ?"

Vegeta's eyes widened, immediately realising what was about to happen. He had feared this moment and therefore had tried to postpone it as long as possible. But now, it seemed Frieza had run out of patience.  
The king swallowed before he told the guard to let their unexpected guest in. Trouble was upon them. In fact, it was waiting just behind that door.  
The guard opened the door and stepped aside, making way for Frieza to enter. As usual, he was accompanied by his henchmen, Zarbon and Dodoria. As the self-proclaimed emperor made his way through the throneroom, king Vegeta quickly stood up from his throne and bowed.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Lord Frieza ?"

The tyrant, sitting in his hoverpod, smiled wickedly. "Well, I thought it was high time to pay my old friend, the Saiyan king a little visit... It's been too long..."

"I...I'm flattered, but -" the king almost stuttered. The otherwise eloquent ruler was now speechless. He knew exactly what was coming, but the way that darn Frieza treated him always made him nervous.

Frieza in his turn just went on, shaking his head in fake disbelief. "My dear Vegeta, you know well enough I'm not here for a nice little chat...Did you forget your promise ?"

"N-no, my lord, I-"

"Really ? Because I haven't heard from you in a while...Let's refresh your memory shall we, just to be sure."

As soon as Frieza had spoken those last words, his henchmen moved forward and grabbed the king by his arms. Nappa, wanting to defend his king jumped up, but was stopped by a simple gesture of Frieza's right hand. His other was held up towards Vegeta, his index finger pointing at the troubled Saiyan's heart.

"I realised I hadn't paid you a personal visit since the Saiyan royal family expanded... How very rude of me..." He said in a malicious tone. "Tell me, how's the little princeling ?"

Vegeta growled at that insult, but Frieza ignored him and went on. This time in a more demanding tone of voice.

"I never forget what was promised to me, Vegeta. And now, I've come to collect. In order for you to keep the rule over this planet, you promised me your firstborn. Now, show me the boy !"

"Y-yes, Frieza..." The regal Saiyan now bowed his head in obediance. "Nappa, go get my son..."

Ofcourse Nappa did as he was told and returned a few minutes later, with a sleepy baby on his arm. The little one clearly wasn't happy with his sleep being interrupted so suddenly, and started sucking on the amulet that hung from his neck.

As Nappa came closer, Frieza studied the child . "So this is little Vegeta...The spitting image of his father, isn't he... I must say I expected him to be a little bigger by this time... He doesn't even have any teeth yet."  
Examining the baby even closer, Frieza pulled the amulet from the baby's mouth, making it cry. It even seemed to make him mad, since he started to wriggle and lashed out at the person who just stole his makeshift pacifier.

"Already a little loudmouth...Ofcourse I expected nothing less from a Saiyan." Frieza said as he turned his attention back to Vegeta senior. "But you'll understand he isn't of much use to me now...Not yet. So I'll be fair, and return when the boy is old enough to hold his own in battle.

The king couldn't believe his ears. An indulgent Frieza ? Where was this coming from ? "Thank you, lord Frieza...!" He uttered as he rushed to hold his son himself.

The emperor himself turned to leave, his malicious smile on his face again and the baby's amulet held up in his right hand. "Don't get me wrong Vegeta, I won't forget, and I expect nothing but the best. So you better train him. Hard."  
And with those words he left the throne room, followed by his henchmen.

Days later, on an unknown planet lightyears away from planet Vegeta, Gine and the others struggled to survive. Despite their best efforts, this job seemed way out of their league. Their opponents were very strong, and there were way too many of them for such a small band of soldiers, even if there were two teams.  
They had fought valiantly together but it didn't take long for the much stronger aliens to separate the strong warriors from the weaker ones. And so it happened that Gine got in trouble. It all went so fast, she didn't even know how it happened, but there she was, fighting to survive. Again. And as hard as she tried, she couldn't fight of her attacker. It terrified her to the point where she totally froze and just accepted her fate. As the alien kept smashing her into the rocks she thought to herself this was it, this was where she was gonna die. She didn't even care, as long as it would be over quick.  
Until she noticed two figures approaching, through the blood and black spots that blurred her sight. She couldn't see who it was, but she recognized the voices. The first voice was higher pitched, clearly female.

"Why don't you go pick on someone your own size, you dirty freakin' insect !" Fasha yelled as she pushed Gine's attacker to the side.  
The other voice was familiar too, and made her heart skip a bit...Or was that just cringing in pain ? Anyway, it called out to her. "GINE ! GO ! GO NOW !"  
And as Gine crawled back up to her feet with the necessary difficulty, it called out again, but this time to its compainion.

"You go with her, Fasha !"

"No, I won't...alo...thing... GINE !"

By then, Gine's vision went all black. When she regained her consciousness some time later, without being able to open her eyes, she could only feel that she was apparently being held by someone, and that they were flying. Her cheek brushed against the person's bare arm.

'Hmm..." she groaned. "I'd almost forgotten how warm you were..."

She got no reply, and seconds later, she passed out again.

A sharp pain on her cheek woke her up again, hours later.

"Gine ! Come on, wake up please !"

Again, she felt a sharp pain. Apparently someone was slapping her in the face. As she slowly opened her eyes, her vision was still blurry but she could just make out Fasha's figure, and the cave they were in.

"Fasha...What happened...Are...Are we dead ? Aah !" As she tried to sit up, her ribbs and left leg protested.

"Stay down, stupid...We're not dead. But it's a miracle you're still alive though. That guy looked like he was gonna eat you. Consider yourself lucky we showed up in time."

"Yeah..." Gine admitted. "Thanks for saving me...I'd probably be dead by now if it wasn't for you and...Bardock..." She had a surprisingly hard time saying that name now. Being fully conscious again she started to remember the pain he had caused her shortly before they came here.

Hearing the pain in her voice, Fasha sat down next to her injured comrad. "What is it with you and Bardock huh ? You said something to him while we were flying here."

"What...?" Gine looked up at her. "I didn't say anything..." And than it dawned on her. "Wait...He carried me here ?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to get to safety with you at first. Just the two of us. But him and me defeated your attacker together and than we came here. We should be safe here, so he said to wait until the job is done."

"Oh...Did...Did he say something else ?"

"No. What was he supposed to say ? That you screwed up ? Or...Something else ?" Fasha's tone changed to a more suspicious one now. "You're acting different around him..."

Gine's cheeks immediately flushed beet red. Busted. "I-I'm not !"

"Oh come on Gine... I've known Bardock a lot longer than you have. I know the effect he tends to have on women..."

Did Fasha really just find out ? If word of their coupling got out, they would be in real trouble. Teammates were not allowed to mate. "I...I..."

"I'll let you in on a little secret of mine. I mated with him back in the day when I just joined this team."

At that moment, Gine felt as if a huge bag of ice had just dropped to the bottom of her stomach. So he did it with her too. Did that mean Gine was just one of many ?

Clearing her throat, Fasha continued. "It was nothing though, I just...Had my head in the clouds at the moment and well, it just happened. And that was it."

The cold in Gine's stomach slowly spread out to the rest of her body. She would have felt a lot better not knowing this. "Oh...Well thanks for sharing " Gine snorted. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks...And thanks for listening too..." Fasha replied as she got up again.

Right at that moment, both their scouters went off, showing the message 'Abort mission. Return to Base.'  
Gine and Fasha looked at eachother, confused. What was that all about ? But without further ado, they both obeyed the command and with a simple click of a button called their spacepods to theri location.  
And so it was that they, after another journey of a few weeks, arrived back home on Planet Vegeta.  
The team assembled at base as fast as they could. They didn't even take time to heal from their injuries. Not even Gine, who's leg was clearly broken.  
The atmosphere in the briefing room where they were instructed to wait was tense, as everyone was curious to know why they were called back so soon. It would probably be because their mission was a lost cause in the end, but still they all were on edge. Screwing up a major job like that was never good.  
When the door opened everyone jumped up, anxious and ready to hear the news. The one entering was Zasarn, the front desk clerk.

"Hello everyone," he started, his usual mean smirk around his mouth. "Please don't look so surprised Bardock, I was instructed to bring you all a message by your superiors. You know they don't have time for these...futilities..."  
The green lizard had read the 'what the hell are YOU doing here' expression on Bardock's face correct.

"Cut to the crap and tell us why we were called back here, Zasarn !" Tora called out. He too was clearly edgy.

Zasarn in his turn wasn't flustered by Tora's outburst. Instead he calmly went on. "You must all be wondering why they called you back so soon. First of all, I can tell you that the assignement was completed succesfully. Mostly due to the contributions of the twenty-first division."

A sigh of relief went through the group. Eventhough they didn't do too well, at least now they wouldn't have to fear serious punishment.

"But...?" Fasha asked, still curious for more.

"Well," Zasarn continued. "It seems one of your teammates was in no condition to fight to begin with. That and your poor prestations...It's not hard to do the math. All your medical test results came back and one was...Surprising, to say the least."

A deafening silence filled the room. It seemed like all of them held their breath in suspence. What was going on ?

"It seems you'll all have to miss your teammate Gine here soon for a few months..."Zasarn said as he walked over to her. "She's pregnant."

Six jaws dropped.


	8. Chapter 8

A new day - Chapter 8

The new feeling

The big revelation had silenced everyone. The whole crew just stared at Gine, a mixture of shock and disbelief on their faces. She looked back at them, just as surprised.

"Guys...I...I don't know what he's talking about, I swear...!" Her voice was shaky and thick with nerves.  
She looked at each of their faces, trying to find some support in one of them. But they all just kept staring blankly at her.

"Are you sure ?" Zasarn asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gine's thoughts worked at top speed now. Was Zasarn right ? They must have tampered with the results... There was no way, not from that one time...Or was there ? And she didn't notice any changes in her body...  
Wait...The morning after their mating...The sourness...But was that even possible in such an extremely early stage ? Who knows, she had never met a pregnant Saiyan before. But now that she thought about it, there was this slight but constant pressure on her blatter she had thought to be a training injury. And maybe even a hightened sence of smell...  
She put her right hand on her lower abdomen and stared at it. Maybe the results were correct after all...

Fasha suddenly stood up, ripping Gine from her thoughts. "Please tell us he's lying, Gine. I know you wouldn't do that..."

Tora followed her example. "Yeah, you're not THAT stupid, are you ?"

Gine's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry..." She muttered. "I guess it's true..."

"What ?" Fasha gasped. "No !"

Zasarn cleared his throat to get everyone's attention back. "You all know what this means. This team is suspended until further notice and the assignements that were planned for you will be passed on to other teams, by order of General Nappa."

"Well that's just great !" Tora said sarcastically. "Fan- FUCKING -tastic, bitch !" He yelled as he kicked his chair against the wall. As his means to sit was now destroyed, he took a step closer to the confused an frightened female Saiyan.

Bardock, who 'd sat there the whole time without showing any sign of reaction or emotion, growled. "Back off, Tora..."

"Come on 'dock, this dumb bitch got our team suspended !" He took another step closer towards Gine, who just sat there, with tears streaming silently down her face.

"I said back off, Tora." Bardock repeated. "That's an order." He too came closer, to the point where he stood nose to nose with his best friend.

"Oh an order, huh ?" Tora shook his head. "Well that's a first...Some captain you are, if you don't even care that your team is suspended because some stupid chick..." He paused for a few seconds, overthinking what he had just said. He was clearly onto something. "What is she to you huh ?" His eyes narrowed as he said that.

Bardock just kept staring him in the eye, with a look on his face that looked like he meant business. He didn't say a word.

And suddenly something dawned on Tora. He started laughing in disbelief. "You're kidding me, right ? No way..."

Gine watched him as Tora sat down on a nearby table, shaking his head again and burying his face in his hands.  
Not a minute later, two guards entered the room. Everyone turned to look at them. The only one who did not seem surprised by their sudden entrance was Zasarn. He didn't even turn to them. Instead he just continued where Tora had interrupted him.

"Now Gine," He said as he unrolled a scroll one of the guards had given him, "As you probably know, low-class female Saiyans are not allowed to get pregnant while active on a team. All female Saiyans are expected to keep good track of their fertility cycle in order to function efficiently in our military system. Ignoring this goes against the rules and is seen as a crime equaling desertion. Therefore you will be court-martialed."

Gine couldn't believe her ears. "What ? You can't be serious !"  
She felt as if the ground had disappeared from under her. Not knowing what else to do, she got up from the chair she was sitting on. Getting up was a bad idea to begin with, with her leg being injured and all, but the nerves had caused her last bits of strength to leave her legs, making her fall to her knees. "You can't do this..." she whined, grabbing Zasarn's feet. "It was an accident, I didn't do it on purpose, I swear...Please..."

Zasarn pulled his feet away, seemingly disgusted. "You've brought this on yourself, Gine. And I'm not the one giving these orders..." He nodded at the two guards, who picked her up under her arms and handcuffed her.  
"You will be transported to the nearest birth clinic, where you and your child's health will be monitored while you await your trial. In contrast to other inhabitants of the clinic, you will not be allowed a one hour leave per day, and will be under twenty-four hour surveillance."

When Zasarn finished, the guards carried her out, her feet dragging across the floor. As the threesome passed by Bardock, Gine looked up at him. "Help me..." She begged.

He looked back at her for a few seconds, the same stern look on his face as always. For a moment it seemed like he was going to say something, but then he just turned away.

"NO ! BARDOCK, PLEASE !" She screamed.

Everyone watched in silence as the guards left with their new captive. One of them growled in annoyance. "Stupid girl, stop your whining. You're making a fool of yourself." He mumbled before they took off into the sky with her.

Not much later, the threesome arrived at the capital and landed right in front of the door of what had to be the birth clinic they were talking about earlier. Much to Gine's surprise, this building didn't look like the prison she thought it would be. On the contrary. It looked rather luxurious and chique, to say the least. Like everything else in the capital, this place did not seem like it was made to inhabit low-class Saiyans.  
The interior of the clinic matched the outside of the building, with what appeared to be the newest models of furniture.  
No one else was in the hall, except for a female alien, who was sitting behind a wide desk. She seemed to be of the same species as Zasarn, only this one had a much friendlier look. She stopped working on her computer as soon as she saw Gine and the guards coming in, and came over with a wide smile on her face.

"You must be our new patient, Gine. Welcome !" She declared warmly.

"I wouldn't get too friendly, she's still a prisoner !" One guard remarked. He looked down on the secretary, like he could do something to her any second. She on the other hand, did not seem impressed.

"I know, but I'll take it from here now gentlemen, you can take your stations outside now, as we discussed earlier. I'll show our 'prisoner' to her room." She went on as she took Gine's arm. "And there'll be no further need for these... Don't worry I won't let her 'escape'." She added as she tapped the handcuffs with her free hand.

Reluctantly, one guard removed Gine's cuffs and after that, both of them went outside again, taking up their positions by the door.  
As soon as the guards were out, the woman let go of Gine's arm. "Now, follow me please, I'll show you to your room." She said and went to the nearest corridor.

"Uhm..." Gine cleared her throat before she went on. "Excuse me...But... Is this some kind of mistake ? Because I'm low-class, and this place is a bit uhm..."

"Too high for your standards ?" the secretary completed Gine's sentence.

"Well...Yeah..." Gine said.

"I'll be honest with you, Gine. You were placed here because this clinic is closest to where your trial will be held. At least that's what I was told."

"Oh...I see..."

They reached the end of the hallway and the secretary opened the door to their left. "This will be your room for the duration of your stay. You can get acquainted with your roommate while I go and get your new clothes. I'll be back in a few minutes."  
And with that, she walked off, leaving Gine behind in her new room.

The accomodation was just big enough to fit in two comfortable looking beds, and adjoining closets. Someone was sitting on the bed closest to the door. Another female, ofcourse, with a belly that looked like she had swallowed a huge ball of some kind and hair that pointed in every direction possible. The thought that it reminded her of a certain someone brought a dreary smile to Gine's face. As she sat down on the free bed, she sighed and looked at her roommate.

"Hello..." she started, holding out her hand. "I'm Gine..."

The other woman just stared at her hand and replied bluntly. "Name 's Cress..."

"Oh...Well..."Gine answered, withdrawing her hand. "Nice to meet you, Cress."

"Pfuh !" Cress spat. "I would rather not have met you."

"E-excuse me ?" Gine's eyes widened. That must have been a new record. They had just met and already her roommate seemed to dislike her.

"What ? Do you think I wanna be here ? I'd rather not have another kid, sorry. I'm here because my first one died at birth. I'm a 'special case' or whatever they call it. They wanna keep a closer eye on me this time, otherwise I wouldn't be here in this fancy ass shithole. They've got better equipment here or whatever."

"So you're low-class too ?" Gine tried.

"Uh-huh..." Cress nodded. "Heard them talk about you in the hallway this morning. You're in deep shit."

"I know..." Gine sighed. "No need to rub it in..."

"Easy there, I won't judge. I know what some guys are like...Forcing themselves on you and all that..."

Right when Gine had jumped up and wanted to say that he did not force himself on her, the secretary entered the room again, with a pile of fresh clothes.

"Getting along famously already ?" She smiled, a little overfriendly. "I've got your uniform here, Gine. Please change now so you can come with me and we'll go and have a look at your baby."

Eager to leave the room, Gine changed into her new garments, a long light-blue shirt, with a darker blue, loose fitting pants, and quickly left with the secretary.  
They walked all the way to the other end of the hallway, to an examination room. Once there, the secretary started up the machinery and went into a cabinet. She took a green round device from it and showed it to Gine.

"This is a portable monitor. It keeps track of your baby's development, heartrate and activity. While you're staying here, you'll wear it under your shirt at all times. Got it ?"

Gine nodded.

"As you know, you're not allowed to leave this place. This device has an alarm built in it, that as soon as you try to go outside, goes off. Okay ?"

She nodded again. "Okay..."

"Good...You should also know that I'm the head nurse here, so if you need anything or have questions, ask for me."

For the third time, Gine nodded. She kinda started to feel like an idiot, just standing there.

"Now, undress the lower half of your body, and lay down on the table next to the ultrasound."

It felt weird, walking around butt naked like that, and the examination started off a little uncomfortable, but minutes later she and the nurse were looking at the grey images on the screen. The sound of a heartbeat, steady as a drum, went with it.

"Is that...my baby ?"

"Yep, that's it alright." The nurse smiled. "Everything is looking good. I suspect you'll be giving birth in about six months."

"okay..." Gine replied dreamily, her eyes still focused on the screen. "Wait...Is it a boy ? Because I think I see- "

"That's the tail." The nurse quickly said.

" Oh ! Never mind !" Gine chuckled, a bit embarassed.

Later that night, when Cress was already sound asleep, Gine was still sitting up in bed, going over the day's events in her mind. The ultrasound had taken her mind off the fact that she was still facing a trial, and most likely, severe punishment.  
She wondered what her teammates were doing, and more important, what they thought of her now. And Bardock... Would she ever see him again ? Would he ever even want to see her again ? And if he did, would he want to meet his child ?  
Probably not. Mating couples rarely sticked together, let alone take care of their children. But there were exceptions, like the royal family for example. The king and queen had gotten married and raised their son together.  
The thought of marrying her child's father amused Gine, but after a while she had to admit to herself that that was probably all it would ever be. A thought. A dream. Who was to say they'd even let her keep the baby. It could be taken from her and sent of to some distant planet as an infiltration baby, what often happened with low-class children.  
She sighed and gently rubbed her belly,right under to the monitor that was now strapped to it. No matter how brief their first 'meeting' was, Gine already felt a connection with the infant. And right at that moment, she felt it. A faint tickle, right where she had placed her hand.

"I know..." She whispered, "I'm here..."

Gine figured that worrying too much probably wasn't doing the both of them any good now. She would have to stay calm, at least for the baby's sake, even if she was anxious as hell. Deep down she knew that all she could do now was wait.


	9. Chapter 9

A new day - Chapter 9

The pain of loss

Weeks had passed since Gine's arrival at the birth clinic, and as time went by her belly grew bigger and bigger. It had grown to the size where she couldn't even see her feet anymore. But her belly was nothing compared to that  
of her roommate Cress, who was past her due date now. Her baby was very active, which took a great toll on her body. The last days she hadn't even been able to get out of bed. Gine couldn't help but assist her newfound friend with everything she did.  
Eversince their first awkward meeting, the two had gotten to know eachother better. Ofcourse due to the great deal of time they were forced to spend together. Cress wasn't the was grumpy, blunt and at times downright rude, but all in all Gine had grown quite fond of her. She had gotten to know Cress better and found that she admired her in a way.  
Cress had often told Gine of her own experiences on missions, and how she too had gotten kicked out of multiple teams. But not because of the same reason as Gine. Cress preferred being alone over always hanging out with her teams, and for some reason the officials had let Cress have her way. They gave her jobs she could do alone instead of putting her on a team. So she could often be found somewhere in space, out on her own.  
On one particular evening, the two pregnant women sat in their room. Each on their own bed, minding their own business. Until Cress, almost bored to death, sat up and looked at her roomie.

"So Gine..."

"Yes...?"

"Who's the father ?"

"Uh..." Gine swallowed audibly. "Excuse me ?"

"You heard me..."

"I uhm...I don't know, Cress." Gine tried to sound confident, but failed miserably. Thus far, she had refused to admit to anyone who the father of her baby was. They'd both get in too much trouble for that.

"You're a terrible liar, Gine. I can see the pain in your eyes when he's mentioned. What happened ?" Cress stood up and sat next to Gine, putting her hand on her knee. "You know I wouldn't tell on you..."

Gine stared at Cress' hand. "Nothing happened, Cress...Nothing bad." She stood up, and went to look out the window. With her hands on her belly, she watched how several space pods passed by, leaving the planet behind them.

"Then why do you always look so hurt when they ask about him ?" Cress wondered.

"I..." Gine sighed and looked down at her belly. The baby seemed to respond to her nervousness. "I'm in love with him..."

"Oh gods...Feelings, really ?" Cress couldn't believe her ears. Who would ever be so stupid ? She knew Gine was nothing like other Saiyans, but this topped it all. "So that's why you're such a softie." She said, moving back to her own bed.

"It's not like I 'decided' to fall in love !" Gine bit. "It just happened... I mean...He's so..." She sighed again. The thought of him formed a faint smile around her lips. But that soon disappeared as she thought of what happened the last time she saw him. She sat back down, shaking her head. "The thing is, Cress, that it doesn't matter anymore. I'm pretty sure he'll want nothing to do with me... When I leave here, it'll just be me and the kiddo..." she said as she rubbed her belly, trying to ease the baby. He was kicking pretty hard. "If they let me keep him ofcourse..."

Cress snorted. "You're still thinking of keeping him ?"

"Ofcourse ! He's my son...A part of his father, and of me... After months of carrying him around, inside of me...Protecting him...He'll be so vulnerable once he's born. Why would I wanna abandon him right when he needs me the most ? I just can't...I won't..." Gine explained as she laid back down and under the covers to rest, her hands still on her belly in a protective way. "Don't you want the same for your son ?"

Cress laughed in disbelief. "You expect me to keep this little fucker ? The kid 's been draining my energy like crazy for weeks now. Yesterday he bruised my ribs, just by kicking ! Besides, we're Saiyans, we don't do that kinda stuff."

Gine looked back at her in disbelief. "So what if we're Saiyans ? There's no shame in caring, Cress. Love isn't a weakness. It's the only thing that's been keeping me going for the past months. The love for this little guy here." She said as she lightly tapped her belly. "And the hope that I might be able to provide him with a better life than I ever had." A hopeful smile apearred on her face. "I even thought of a name for him. Maybe you should do the same."

For a moment it seemed like Cress was giving Gine's words some thought. But then, she just huffed and looked away.

In her turn, Gine rolled to her side and closed her eyes. "Good night..." She whispered, and fell asleep only moments later.

In the middle of the night, a sharp, loud noise woke Gine from her sleep. She got up as fast as she could, which was rather difficult with a belly of that size, and went for the light switch.  
Once the light was on, it immediately became clear what was going on. Cress was sitting up on her bed, her mouth open in shock, looking very pale and a pool of blood between her legs. The monitor on her belly was producing the sharp sound.

"Gods, Cress !" Gine yelped as the lights in the hallway shot on. The sound of someone running down the hall was heard.  
Alarmed by the monitor's emergency signal, the head nurse barged in. She quickly realised the seriousness of the situation and stuck her head back out the door, calling assistance. "HELP ! I NEED HELP IN ROOM NINE !"  
In a matter of seconds, the whole medical team assembled in the two women's small bedroom. As doctors and nurses gathered around Cress to examine her, she held out her fist to Gine, who ofcourse held it.  
Gine could feel something being muffled in her hand, but didn't pay attention to it, as she saw the desperation and fear in her roommate's eyes. Cress needed her attention more now.

Sitting down on her knees to level her face with Cress's, Gine tried to comfort her. "You'll be fine... The doctors will help you..."  
But she wasn't so sure everything was gonna be alright. By the sound of the medics, things were looking pretty bad.

"She's hemorrhaging ! We need to perform a C-section !"

"It's too late !"

"They'll both die if we don't do it now !"

And so it happened that in a matter of minutes, Cress's lower abdomen was cut open to deliver her baby, without sedation. The adrenaline in her Saiyan blood kept her conscious, even if she was very weak now. All she could do was groan in pain.  
As one doctor got the baby out seconds later, not a sound was heard. Gine held her breath in anticipation. All she could see from the baby was his little tail, that hung lifeless from the table the doctor had put him on.

"Is...he..." Cress muttered weakly. The rest of the medical team was already hard at work again, trying to stop the bleeding.

To Gine's relief, a loud, healthy cry was heard soon after.

"He's alive, Cress ! He's okay !" Gine smiled widely as she turned to her roommate. But what she saw was shocked her. Cress was staring lifeless at the ceiling.

"NO ! Don't give up !" Gine yelled as she grabbed her dead roommate 's shoulders and shook her. "Not now !"  
Tears welled up in her eyes as the head nurse tried to pull Gine away from Cress' s body. "She's gone, Gine...There was nothing we could do..." She had the most difficult time trying to hold Gine back, who struggled to get back to her friend. "Calm down, think of your own baby !"

"NAAAAAAH ! LET GO OF ME !" Gine screamed, her aura flaring up as she punched the nurse in the face, immediately regretting her actions. Out of breath, she watched as her victim's nose started to bleed.

"Well that was uncalled for..." The nurse said, her voice muffled by her hands that covered her mouth.

"I...I'm sorry..." Gine brought out. She stepped back and dropped down on her bed, tears streaming down her face. "I lost control..."

"It's okay..." The nurse huffed as she whiped the blood from her nose. "I'm used to working with you Saiyans...And I know she was your friend. But maybe it'll comfort you a bit to know hat we'll take good care of her son. For now..."

"For now...? What do you mean ?"

"Well..." The nurse continued hesitantly. "He's being sent back to a low-class birth clinic, where he belongs." And without any further ado, she left the room. The rest of the medical team followed, carrying Cress's body out, covered with a white sheet, on a stretcher. Apparently, someone had already left with the baby earlier. In all the commotion Gine hadn't noticed that up until now.

The exhausted Saiyan sighed. As she looked down at her wrist, Gine realised she still hadn't looked at what Cress had put in her hand. She opened it and saw a small, ripped off and rolled up piece of scroll. Opening it, a list of boys names became visible. One of them was circled.

Determined to fulfill her deceased friend's last wish, she got up and walked out the room to the hall. "Hey," she said as she saw the head nurse again. "I believe Cress wanted me to deliver this to you guys..."

The nurse looked at the paper and laughed melancholically as she saw the contents of the note. "I see..."

Gine nodded and turned to go back to her room.

"Wait, Gine..."

At the sound of her name, Gine stopped in her tracks. "Yes...?" She replied, without turning around again.

"You wanna see him before they take him away ? Someone else is now tending to him but I'll come and get you when she's done."

"I'd love to !" Gine replied and finally returned to her room.

It felt empty now, with Cress gone. Gine had always known the day would come where she would be staying alone in here, but not in this way. What happened today was one of the most horrible things she had ever witnessed, and it made her feel sick, drained. They had their differences, but Cress had been the only friend Gine had left. And now, she too, was gone. It was hard to believe. She had always seemed so strong.  
Gine had never been able to put her finger on it, but now she realised that was what she admired about Cress. Her strong, independant character.  
As more tears started to roll down Gine's cheeks, a series of strong kicks in her belly woke her from her thoughts.

"I know, I know..." She sighed, laying down on the bed again, her hand on her belly. "I need to rest..."

About half an hour later, she had just started to fall asleep as someone knocked on the door. After Gine gave permission to enter, the head nurse opened the door.

"He's ready..."

Without saying anything, Gine got up and followed the nurse down all the way to the end of the hall, where they took a left to another unit. This was clearly where they kept the newborn babies. Instead of rooms, there were multiple large wards here. Behind the glass windows, the infants were held in incubators, closely monitored by more nurses.  
The head nurse stopped by the last window to the right.

"This is him..." She said looking at the nameplate, as to double check herself. "We gave him the name she wanted."

"Well...Hello little Turles..." Gine smiled warmly as she placed a hand on the glass. "He sure takes after his mother, doesn't he ?"

He sure did. His hair stood up in the same way, it even had the same two horn-like strands to the top of his head. The only difference was that it wasn't as long as his mother's hair, it missed the ponytail.  
The things the boy must have inherited from his father were his eyes and his slightly darker complexion. Cress had been more pale.

"He seems healthy too," Gine stated, noticing the blush on his cheeks. "for a moment I thought he was a stillborn, like her first one..."

"That's what I thought," the nurse admitted. "but he pulled through, luckily."

The two women just stood there, staring at the peacefully sleeping baby, when suddenly another voice sounded down the hall.

"Hey you, Gine !" It was one of the guards that had brought her in. He held up a scroll in his hands. "The date for your trial just came in !"

Gine said nothing as she walked over to the guard, eventually taking the scroll from his hand. Shaking with nerves, she opened it and read that her trial would be held exactly two months from now.

"So they finally found a date for judgement day..." She sighed down-hearted.


	10. Chapter 10

A new day - Chapter 10

An eventful morning

One day, during the long and seemingly everlasting period of being withdrawn from battle action, Tora and Bardock had decided together that it was high time for a good old night at the bar among best friends. If they weren't on a mission they often spent their free evenings together on this 'distraction' as they called it. They both stated they needed it to keep their mind sane and let off some steam. Because hey, conquering planets is a stressfull job, you know...  
These evenings often consisted of drinking lots of beer, getting drunk, REALLY drunk, and sometimes picking up girls. Most of the time they ended up in bed with those girls, and if the level of alcohol in their blood would permit it, they mated.

This was one of those nights.  
The two best friends had both brought another girl home to Bardock's place. With Tora and his fling in the other room, Bardock and his newfound lover for one night were going at it on his old, trusty mattress. He was pumping into her from behind, his left hand on her hip, and his right hand holding her tail firmly. He couldn't see her face this way but he didn't care, as long as he could have his way with her... Besides, her ecstatic moans were all he needed to keep him going. She was getting louder with each thrust and together with the sound of her voice, he could feel the tension building inside him. He needed release, and fast. Picking up his pace, he tugged harder on her tail.

"Ohh Bardock...! Yes !" The girl squealed.

Bardock in his turn groaned and let go of her tail, holding on to both her hips. "Gods, I'm gonna...!"  
Right when he decided to grab onto hair on the back of her head, the girl looked over her shoulder, revealing Gine's face.

"I love you Bardock..."

That was enough to wake him from his dream. He shot up, panting heavily.

"Those damn nightmares..." He thought to himself, the sound of her voice still seemingly ringing in his ears.

Strangely, his body did not share his mind's opinion on those 'nightmares'. His arousal was pretty clear under the blanket. He got up quickly, and quietly made his way down the corridor to the bathroom, careful not to wake Tora and his possible mate. Much to his disgust, the bathroom was exactly where he found his best friend, with his head hanging down the toilet bowl. A gruesome sound coming from the latter made short work of the reason Bardock had come to the bathroom in the first place.

"Save me the trouble of having to drag your corpse out and don't die in my bathroom..." Bardock sneered.

"Ugh..." Tora groaned, looking up while he whiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well good morning to you too..." He said as he carefully got up from his knees.

"So where's last night's catch ?" Bardock went on before filling the sink with cold water and splashing some of it on his face.

"Oh...Uh...She already left. Not long after we came here..." Tora replied.

"Was it over that fast ? Damn, I know you're not one for marathons, but I thought you were better than that." Bardock couldn't help but laugh while he studied himself in the mirror. The wound on his cheek had healed up pretty good, but it did leave a big scar. Not that he cared.

"Hey, at least I get laid every now and then. You haven't had a single fling in months." Tora remarked, bumping his best friend's shoulder with his fist. "That's not like you at all bro..."

A sigh was Bardock's initial response. Tora probably wouldn't understand, but he went for it anyway. "I've got other things on my mind... With the team being suspended..."

"No. No, don't give me that crap. Don't bullshit the bullshitter. You've been different eversince you banged Gine." Tora looked down on Bardock now, who had sat down on the toilet bowl, burying his face in a towel. "You care for her..."

the troubled captain emitted a low growl. "I don't..." His voice sounded muffled because of the towel.

"You can't lie to me..." Tora said as he pulled the towel from Bardock's hands, practically forcing him to show his face. "We grew up together. You can't fool me."

Back in the living room, the sound of Bardock's scouter going off could be heard. Bardock himself saw that as an easy excuse to try and escape from this awkward conversation. He was feeling more and more uneasy by the second so as soon as he heard the beeping, he jumped up and paced back to where he came from in the first place. "I don't care for her, Tora...I never -"  
His jaw dropped when he put on the scouter and read the message on the small green screen.

Hours earlier on that same morning at the birth clinic, Gine's wake up alarm had gone off. She got up, not noticing the slight pressure in her lower abdomen until she sat up on the edge of the bed. In the past night, she had been woken up a few times by that same pain. She thought it had subsided by now, but clearly, it hadn't. Raising her shirt to check the monitor on her belly, she noticed that the small blinking light in the center of it had gone from green to orange.

"I hope for your sake it's another false alarm, buddy...You know today is an important day." Gine sighed, talking to her big, rounded belly.

She had two false alarms so far in the past two weeks, but today the trial was being held. The one day she really couldn't afford to go into labour.

After getting up slowly, Gine got dressed, changed into her daytime attire from the birth clinic and waited for the head nurse to pick her up. She had agreed to accompany Gine to the palace, where the trial would be held, together with a guard. Just in case something would happen.  
So not much later, the three of them were being brought to the palace in a special carriadge, since it was too exhausting now for Gine to fly.

When they stood in front of the door to the courtroom, the guard grabbed Gine's wrists and handcuffed her again.

"I'm sorry about this Gine..." The nurse started. "But we've been fair to you up until now. It's only normal that we follow the protocol again from here on out. We have to put these on you again while you're in there. After all, you're still a prisoner."

"I understand..." Gine nodded.

With a deep sigh and a roll of the eyes she underwent the rough handling by the guard. Couldn't he at least be a little more gentle ? She opened her mouth to say something about it to him but before she had the chance, the doors opened.  
The guard pushed her forward, forcing her to enter the large courtroom. Even though she was nervous as hell by now, Gine couldn't help but think this was one of the most beautiful places she had ever been. The architecture would have been more fitting for a ballroom than the purpose it served now. It had a white, marble floor and the ceiling was high, with golden embellishments. The amount of detail in it was amazing.  
The young Saiyan was so busy studying the ceiling as she walked, she almost didn't notice there were other people in the room, be it only a few. There were no spectators, except for one. Fasha. Seeing her made Gine's heart skip a beat.  
Ofcourse she couldn't wave like she wanted to with the cuffs on, so all the troubled Saiyan could to was smile at her former teammate. A nervous, distorted smile. Fasha smiled back melancholicaly.  
All the way in the front of the room was a short stairs with only a few steps, that led up to a throne. Seated on it was someone Gine had only heard of until now.  
The woman sitting there was of short posture, but her regal appearance seemed to made one forget about that just by looking at her. To be honest she would have looked even more beautiful than she already was if she wasn't looking like she smelled something bad.  
She had almond shaped eyes, her skin was an olive tone and she wore her long hair in a ponytail that was put up high on her head. Around her neck was the medaillon with the crest of the Saiyan royal family and she wore a red,  
hooded cape, combined with a dark blue, loose fitted dress. Gine found the fact that the queen wasn't wearing armour a little odd, allthough she couldn't quite tell why. But looking more closely she noticed the reason for the absence of the armour. Eventhough Saiyan armour could expand to any size, the dress was probably meant to fit more comfortable since the bump that the fabric slightly showed around the queen's lower abdomen hinted that she too, was expecting. Again.  
She sat there, legs crossed and hands folded as she stared Gine down.  
Sitting at the queen's right was someone Gine did see before, General Nappa. Strangely enough, he had a kid sitting on his lap. A toddler, who had to be the young prince seeing how he strongely resembled his father,the king. Also, he wore the same medaillon the queen was wearing. The kid looked like he could use a nap, and honestly, so did Nappa.  
Next to them sat three more men whom Gine had never seen before, but she figured they had to have an important military role too.

Standing with the guard next to her in front of a large bench at the front row, Gine waited until the queen gave them permission to sit down. She did hope the queen wouldn't make her wait too long. The pain in her belly still hadn't gone away yet. On the contrary, it was getting worse. It was starting to feel like very bad cramps, and it seemed they were coming more and more frequently.  
So as soon as the queen signaled them all to sit down, Gine did so, and as she sat there, holding her belly with both hands and trying to breathe away the pain. She tried her best not to let anyone notice she was actually in a lot of pain.

"Right," the Queen started bluntly, her tone patronizing and strict. "Normally my husband does these kind of...things...but since he's occupied I'll be sentencing you today. In contrast to what he thinks, my time too, is precious. So let's get this over with quickly. When I ask you a question, I want you to answer it. Thruthfully. That is all."

Gine nodded. "Yes..."

The queen frowned. "Yes, who ? Manners please..."

"Yes, your Highness..."

"Much better...Now, you are Gine, formerly of the thirty-first division, am I right ?"

"That is correct, your Majesty." Again, Gine nodded, fiercely hoping this would all be over soon. She felt another cramp coming up. Soon, she wouldn't be able to hide her pain any longer.

"I was informed that you went against our military law by not keeping track of your fertility cycle, mated and by doing so, conceived a child in the process."

Gine answered, gritting her teeth and barely able to hold back a groan. "Well I guess the evidence speaks for itself..." In this state she found it was almost impossible to answer calm and politely.

"Watch your tone, you low-class scum ! And remember the position you're in here !" The queen sneered as she stood up from her throne. "Is it true that you refuse to tell anyone who the father of your child is ?"

"I...I don't...knooowww AHH !"

"You insulent little...! Who do you think you are, adressing ME in such a tone ?" The queen came down the stairs and paced towards Gine "You don't know...What else could one expect from peasants like -"

Th queen halted right in front of Gine, but stopped mid-sentence as soon as she felt herself stepping into something wet. "Did you just..."

"I...I'm sorry..." Gine muttered.

Ofcourse noticing all the commotion right away, the nurse, who had been sitting one bench behind Gine and the guard, jumped up immediately to check on her. "Great gods, her water broke ! I'm sorry your majesty but this can't wait..."

"I don't understand why you let her come here in this state in the first place. What are you waiting for, get her to a guest room, NOW !" The queen ordered both the guard and the nurse. And as they carried Gine out, she continued towards their backs : "Don't think this changes anything ! I will still pass your sentence as soon as you're done with...that !"

As fast as they could, Gine was brought to the nearest guest room and put down on the large and comfy bed. The nurse examined and readied her and as she got into position between Gine's legs, she tried to comfort her. "You're gonna have your baby now, Gine. Everything will be okay if you just do as I say. When I say 'push', you push. Okay ?"

"No ! No I can't !" Gine panicked, shaking her head. "I'll die like Cress !"

"You won't, that was a totally different situation- !"

"I CAN'T DO IT ALONE !" Gine screamed.

"You're not alone !" A different voice sounded and suddenly someone grabbed Gine's hand. Apparently, Fasha had followed them, quiet as a mouse, and sneaked into the makeshift delivery room.

"Fasha !" Gine's eyes widened at the sight of her teammate. Her presence lit up a small flame in Gine's stomach. The fire gave her back some long lost courage.

"Come on little fish, you can do this...Give it all you got !" Fasha winked as she gave Gine's had a supportive squeeze. "You can squeeze into mine as hard as you can !"

"Uhm...I don't wanna interrupt your cozy get-together here, but you're still giving birth here, Gine ! It's time to push ! One, two...!" The nurse yelled.

And at three, Gine pushed as hard as she could. Biting her teeth so hard, she thought they would break at some point. And after about twenty minutes of hard work... A loud, healthy cry as heard.

"Congratulations...It's a boy !" the nurse declared as she cut the umbilical cord.

An exhausted Gine smiled. "I already knew..." She brought out as the nurse presented the boy to her. Gine took him in her arms, carefully. "Hello there..."  
The baby was still covered in blood, wriggling and squealing, but immediately calmed down upon hearing the familiar voice of his mother.

Fasha chuckled as she observed the both of them. "Would you look at that...Congrats, mom... He's got your hair."

"He sure does..." The new mother confirmed, turning to her friend, giving her a meaningful look. "Uhm...Fasha...?"

And just looking at Gine's face, Fasha knew enough. "I'll let him know, right away. I'll give you both some rest now." She nodded and got up from the bed, already activating her scouter on the way out of the room.

About a minute after Fasha left, the head nurse took the baby from Gine's arms to tend to him. After she cleaned him up and gave him back to his mommy, she left them to rest. But not much later, someone knocked on the door again.  
Without waiting for Gine's answer, the queen entered the room. Without even looking at the newborn, she explained what she came in for.

"In consultation with the jury we've decided on a sentence for you."

"Y-yes...?" Gine replied with a shaky voice.

"You must know what you did equals desertion. One of the worst crimes possible, in our society... Therefore we found that you must suffer severe consequences. The punishment must always equal the crime and that is why you will be ex-"

Right when the queen was about to pass her sentence, a royal guard came "Your majesty ?"

"Not now Zorn, I'm busy !"

"But your majesty, someone wants to see you. He says it's urgent."

"This better be good !" the monarch grumbled as she marched out the room.

Gine sighed as she watched the door close again. "Looks like it's just you and me for now... I think I know what she was gonna say..." she whispered as she softly stroked the baby's nose with the tip of her index finger. "But I won't let anything happen to you... You know that..."

When her fingertip touched his mouth, the little boy instinctively responded by sucking on it.

"Already hungry, huh ?" Gine snickered. "Well, let's see what we can do about that...This can't be too hard...You and I gotta help eachother out, since we're both new to this..."

She smiled widely. Gine knew how silly she sounded, talking to a newborn baby. But she couldn't care less. For the first time in months, she felt almost perfectly happy. Almost. And she wanted to enjoy every second of it, for as long as it lasted.  
The dreamy smile remained around her lips as she watched him suckle. It was amazing to see how hungry such a tiny, newborn baby could be, and drink so eagerly.

"My little Raditz..."


	11. Chapter 11

A new day - Chapter 11

A new dawn, a new day

An hour had gone by way too fast, when the Saiyan queen re-entered the room. Completely forgetting about protocol again, Gine motioned her to be quiet since the baby was sleeping now.

The queen in her turn pretended like she didn't notice and sat on the bed again. "You've been acquitted."

Gine couldn't believe her ears. This was almsot too good to be true. "A- What ? Are you serious ? Why ? I mean...What happened ?"

"Let's just say a...witness...showed up...providing us with good reason to give you another chance. That is all. As soon as you're fit enough to leave, you're free to go. That is all."

Having said that, she got up again and wanted to leave. But first, she bent over a bit to have a closer look at little Raditz. A rare smile appeared on her face. "He's got his father's eyes."

"Yeah, he...What ? How do you..." Gine sat there, perplexed.

"I bid you good day." And without saying another word the queen retreated to the hallway, where she commanded Nappa, who had apparently been waiting outside the door. "Show our witness in, Nappa!"

As he was told, Nappa opened the other half of the double door, to let the other person in. Seeing who stood there astounded Gine even more. Bardock. Him showing up shocked her to the point where she was at a loss of words.

"You ! I-I-I... I mean, YOU ? Here ?"

Before coming over to the bed, Bardock turned to Nappa. "You can leave us alone now..."

Clearly displeased with how the trial had turned out, Nappa took a step closer towards his much shorter companion. "You might have gotten away easy this time, but make no mistake. Next time you make one more step out of line..." he cracked knuckles, "I'll personally make sure you pay. Dearly..."

But Bardock did not seem impressed at all. "Get lost, Nappa..." He growled. And as Nappa did leave, Bardock mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like 'glorified babysitter'.  
Slowly but surely he made his way to Gine, and sat down right where the queen had sat, not more than a few minutes ago.  
Gine still wasn't able to find all the right words for what she wanted to ask of him. There was just so much she wanted to know.

"I can't believe it...How..."

"How ?" Bardock answered,without even looking at her. "Fasha sent me a message, letting me know you just gave birth to a son, at your trial."

"He's YOUR son..."

"I KNOW he's mine, okay ?" Bardock snapped. "Don't make this any harder than it already is...I'm still struggling with all of this..." He made that clear by shaking his head. It did look like he was having a hard time.

"At least have a look at him, Bardock... He has your eyes..." Gine pleaded.

Slowly, and with obvious hesitation Bardock turned to look at his son. For a moment, it looked like he was about to smile, but his lips halted at a grin. "He's uhm...hairy..."

"Yeah, well he's got my hair, clearly..." Gine chuckled. "Fasha noticed that too, she was here with me when I was in labour..."

"It's hard not to notice..."

Gine shrugged and smiled cheerfully at him. "I think he looks just perfect."

For a few seconds, she kept looking the father of her child in the eye. And to her big surprise, he looked back. Those onyx eyes of him were so mesmerizing. They were like dark, bottomless pools. When you looked into them, it felt like you could fall in any second and drown.  
Gine had never forgotten how he could look at her, study her. Or the way it felt when he did so. It was like he was trying to scan her... Read her whole being. Her soul.

After a short while, the tension between the two became too much and they broke eye contact. Bardock looked away again, slightly blushing. "Gine...I..."

"I know what you're gonna say, okay ?" Gine cut him off. She figured it was better to bite the bullet and get it over with before things got even more a moment, the moment when she saw Bardock at the door, she believed everything would turn out the way she wanted it. For them to be together. But only now she realised how wrong she was.  
"I don't know what you did to help me this time, but just know that I didn't expect anything from you. I know you don't think of me the way I think of you...And that's...fine... I'll accept that, even if it's the hardest thing I'll ever do -"

"Will you shut your airhole and let me finish, woman ?! " Bardock interrupted her in his turn, "Don't you wanna KNOW what just happened ?"

His outburst was so unexpected, Gine shut up immediately and sat there staring at him with an open mouth for a full second before she realised he had asked her something. "Uhm...yeah, ofcourse...Sorry..."

" The thing is Gine," he continued, "I just can't seem to forget about you. It's strange, but I was drawn to you from the moment we first met... I tried to to ignore that feeling, I tried with all my might. But I just couldn't. And at some point I guess I just... Gave in. That was what happened the night we mated."

"I see..." Gine nodded. "But it didn't change anything...Right ? You still pushed me away..."

"I know...Because it's not right for us to behave this way...We're Saiyans...It's not normal... We need to keep our heads clear in order to function the way we have to. You can't fight with a mind that's always distracted... Always worried about the other..."

"I guess you're right..." Gine huffed, her voice thick with emotion. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. This was gonna hurt like hell.

"But this morning," Bardock went on undisturbed, "Tora happened to be with me when I got your message. In a way, he said that I'm not me...It's strange, but..." He turned to look at her again. "I can't function the way I have to when I don't have you..."

Gine couldn't believe her ears. "Bardock, I...I don't know what to say..."

"That's not everything. I knew I had to come and help you here today if I didn't want to risk losing you... So I practically barged in here without anything that came even close to a plan and...Well, I started negotiating with the queen...And we came to an agreement together..."

"And...?"

"Well...She said that, as long as you you did your part for our society in a way, get a job... You could go free. And you would have to bind yourself to me...So that I'll always be responsible for you."

"Wait...'bind'...? Is that...What I think it is ? Like the king and queen ?" Gine's head was starting to spin now. This situation just took a VERY different turn.

"We...We have the queen's blessing. You're..." Bardock swallowed audibly. It was obvious he was still processing all this. "You're my wife now."

"Your wife..." Gine whispered, trying to let it sink in. "Your WIFE ! Oh gods ! I can't believe it ! Talk about a turn of events !"

In her excitement she had startled the baby, who started to cry.

"Oh my...I'm sorry little one...hush now...It's okay..." She tried calming him. "So..." she turned her attention back to the boy's father, "Does that mean I have to come home with you now ?"

"Yeah..." Bardock nodded. "When can you leave ?"

"I'd go with you right now if I could..." Gine sighed as she leaned back into the pillow behind her. "But I'm afraid I'm still too tired..."

"I'll let you two rest then...Don't worry, I'll be here to pick you up in the morning."

"Good..." Gine nodded as her now husband turned away from them and walked towards the door. "Hey uhm...Bardock ?"

He stopped in his tracks. "What ?"

"You won't regret this..."

He couldn't resist the urge to smile confidently. And without looking back at her, he said : "I know..."

FOUR YEARS LATER-

Age 737

"Mom...! Mom wake up !"

Once again, the sun was rising over a small village and another day presented itself the same way it always did. The sun's early light reached the windows of a small, standalone house, and woke it's youngest inhabitant.

"Mom !"

A young, long haired boy named Raditz poked its sleeping mother Gine's cheek in an attempt to wake her up.

"Hmm..." Gine groaned. "Go back to sleep, Raditz...The sun's not even up yet..."

"Yes it is !" The kid squeeked, pulling his mother's arm. "Get up ! I gotta show you something !"

"Alright, alright !" Gine sighed as she sat up on the edge of the bed. "You just wait until I catch you..."

By the time she stood up, Raditz had already ran off into the living room. " You won't ! You're way too slow for that now !"

Unfortunately, Gine had to admit he was right. "Be nice to your mother, will you... I'm having your little brother soon..." She said as she put a hand on top of her large, rounded belly. Any day now, she could give birth to her second son. Only this time, she had arranged for herself to stay at home as long as she could, since she already had a four year old boy at foot now. She would have to leave for the nearest birth clinic as soon as she felt it was time. But for now, there were no signs of an impending birth. Apart from the fact that the baby had been very active the past few days. A sudden, strong kick confirmed her thought.

"Oof !" She exclaimed as she sat down on the nearest chair in the living room. "Sorry to wake you this early, sweetie..." She said, talking to and patting her belly. "But your brother had something 'important' to show me. Now, what was it, Raditz ?"

"Oh ! I lost a tooth !" He yelled excitedly as he rushed over to his mother, almost tripping over his own feet. He proudly pointed at an empty spot in the upper row where one of his front teeth had been.

"Well, look at that ! You're one of the big boys now...Ready to protect your little brother !" Gine said, proudly ruffling through her son's lush hair, pulling him closer with her free arm to smother him with kisses.

"No ! Cut it out !" Raditz squirmed, trying to get free from his mother's grip. "Mom, I'm a warrior ! He grunted as he finally broke free, and rubbed his cheek like she left something dirty there. "Besides I'd much rather fight him..."

Knowing boys would still always be boys, Gine crossed her arms. "You wouldn't fight your brother now, would you ? That's not very nice..."

"I'm NOT nice...! I'm a proud warrior, just like dad !" The kid stated, crossing his arms as well.

Gine gave her son a warning look. "Raditz...!"

"Fiiine..." The 'proud warrior' huffed. "Now can I have something to eat ? I wanna go outside..." He said as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"I was about to make you breakfast..." Gine said as she carefully got up from her chair an waddled over to the kitchen counter. She made her son a hearty breakfast while her thoughts drifted away. She was still half in thoughts when she kissed her son's forehead at the front door.

"Be carefull ! And say hi to Turles from me."

"Sure ! Bye mom !" Raditz shouted as he jumped up in the air and flew off without looking back.

"Bye..." Gine whispered as she thought of how much the boy reminded her of his father.  
She kept looking at the sky long after Raditz had disappeared. Searching, looking for a sign. Anything. Still, nothing hinted at the return of her spouse. Her scouter had remained silent for weeks now. This was nothing she wasn't used to, but still she missed him.

"Come back soon, Bardock..." she thought as she kept looking up. "You'll miss your son's birth..."

She thought back of the last moment right before he left for planet Kanassa.

"Come back alive, okay ?" She had said, holding onto his broud shoulders for as long as she could. They were used to moments like this, but for some reason Gine felt another strange emotion stirr in her stomach this time. She blamed it on the pregnancy, which was probably the reason she was so emotional now.

"Kinda hard to come back dead, right ?" Bardock tried jokingly.

Gine playfully slapped her chuckling husband's cheek. "That's not funny !"

"Sorry..." He said, before looking around to make sure nobody could see them. When he was sure no one was in the vicinity, he planted a quick kiss on her lips.

"I'm so looking forward to the four of us being together..." Gine sighed dreamily.

"I know you do...When I'm back, okay ? I gotta go now..." He said as he flung his duffle bag over his shoulder and took a few steps back.

"Goodbye..." Gine nodded. No matter how much they went through these goodbyes right before a mission, she would never get used to it. She had to try hard to prevent pearly tears from welling up in her eyes. And this time, there was no stopping it.

"Bye..." Bardock replied as he lifted off into the air. He looked back one more time, smiling.

He never said it out loud, but Gine knew this was his way of letting her know he loved her. And she loved him back, with all her heart. She was sure he knew that too.  
And like she told him, her heart ached for the moment he would return and they'd all be together again, the four of them.  
One day, a new day...

THE END


End file.
